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THE 



ECLOGUES AND GEORGICS 

- 
Y IE GIL. 



ENGLISH NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY, 

AND 

A METRICAL INDEX. 

BY CHARLES ANTHON, LID., 

PROFESSOR OF THE GREEK AND LATIN LANGUAGES IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW- 
YORK, AND RECTOR OF THE GRAMMAR-SCHOOL. 



NEW-YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF- ST. 
"7 184G. 



db*" 



v *v 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, 

By Harper & Brothers, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 



TO 



PHILIP WAGNER, Ph. D„ 

RECTOR OF THE GYMNASIUM AT DRESDEN, 

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE LATIN SOCIETY AT JENA, 

ETC., ETC., 

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, 

AS A TOKEN 

OF SINCERE RESPECT FOR EMINENT SCHOLARSHIP, 

DISTINGUISHED CRITICAL SAGACITY, AND 

A HIGHLY CULTIVATED TASTE, 

BY HIS FRIEND 

THE EDITOR. 



I. 



PREFACE. 



The plan pursued, in preparing the present edition 
of the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, is the same 
with that which was recently followed in the case of 
the iEneid, and which has met with the approbation 
of so many instructors. Every obstacle that might 
.have tended to impede the progress of the young stu- 
dent has been carefully removed, whether of a gram- 
matical or metrical nature ; and, besides this, a large 
body of useful information has been introduced from va- 
rious quarters, especially on the subjects of ancient bot- 
any and husbandry, reference being made, at the same 
time, to the most approved systems of modern times. 
The best commentaries have been consulted for this 
purpose, and in particular the valuable body of notes ac- 
companying the German version of Voss. Some of 
these last have already appeared in the edition of Val- 
py, but to a very limited extent, and in many instances 
marred by inaccuracies. In the present work, how- 
ever, they are given with far more fullness of detail, 
and consequently with far more of utility to the learn- 
er. Indeed, if the editor had contented himself with 
merely giving the commentary of Voss in an English 
garb, with a few necessary alterations, he would have 
been doing a very acceptable service. But, in addi- 
tion to the rich materials obtained from the source just 
mentioned, the commentaries of Heyne, Wagner, 
Spohn, Wunderlich, Forbiger, and many other Conti- 
nental scholars have been carefully consulted, and, 



VI PREFACE. 

while whatever was valuable has been incorporated 
into the present work, it is believed that every diffi- 
culty has been honestly, if not always successfully met. 

The text is based upon that of Heyne, as emended 
and improved by Wagner, though in several instances 
the editor has not hesitated to deviate from these high 
authorities, and follow less eminent, but in these par- 
ticular instances surer guides. As a whole, however, 
Wagner's improved edition of Heyne's text is undoubt- 
edly the best that can be named at the present day. 
The larger work has already been referred to in the 
preface to the ^Eneid, and is a splendid monument of 
German scholarship. An abridgment has recently ap- 
peared from the Leipsic press, containing in a brief 
compass all the excellent features of the main work ; 
and the editor is happy to state that he received a 
copy of this smaller edition, from his learned friend Dr. 
Wagner, in sufficient season to avail himself of it for 
the purpose of rendering the present publication more 
complete. 

The editor takes this opportunity also of expressing 
his acknowledgments to his learned friend, Professor 
Drisler, for the aid he has rendered in carrying the 
present work through the press, and in removing all 
those typographical inaccuracies which often interpose 
so serious an obstacle to the learner. The Professor's 
well-known care and acuteness,in this as well as other 
respects, will, it is conceived, be a full guarantee for 
the general correctness of the work. 

Columbia College, Feb. 25th, 1846. 

Note. — After the Annotations were printed off, the editor receiv- 
ed a copy of " Keightley's Notes on the Bucolics and Georgics of Virgil." 
On a careful examination, however, of that volume, he has seen no reason 
for altering any portion whatever of his own Co mm entary. 



PASSAGES FROM GREEK WRITERS, 

WHICH APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN IMITATED BY VIRGIL IN 
HIS ECLOGUES AND GEORGICS. 



ECLOGUE I. 

Verse 

1. Tityre, tu, patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi, 
Silvestrem tenui musam meditaris avena, &c. 

"ilg rot ey&v evdfievov &v' tipea rag naXag alyag, 
Quvag elgatov • rv <J' vno dpvalv rj vno nevicaig 
'Adij [leXioddfisvog KarEfcsfcXioo, ■dele Kofidra. 

Theocr., Idyll., vii., 87, seqq. 



7. Namque erit ille mihi semper deus ; illius aram 
Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. 

Bojfibv 6' aljj,d^£L Kepabg rpdyog ovrog 6 \iakog, 
TepfiLvdov rpuycjv eaxarov dupefiova. 

Id., Epigr., i., 5. 



11. Non equidem invideo 
Kov roc rl (pdoveo) • 



Id., Idyll., \., 62. 



46. Pascite ut ante, boves, pueri ; submittite tauros. 

Moox^g (3o)alv vcpevreg, enl GreipaiOL 6e ravpug. 

Id., Idyll., ix., 3. 



52. Fortunate senex ! hie, inter flumina nota 

Et fontes sacros, frigus captabis opacum, &c. 



Vlll GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verso 

to 6' eyyvdev lepbv vScjp 
NvfMfrav ei- avrpoco Karetddfievov KeXdpvodev. 
Tot 6e tcotl OKiepalg bpo$a\ivioiv aldaXiuveg 
TeTnyeg XaXayevvreg e%ov novov - a <F oXoXvy&v 
TrjXodev ev nvKivaloi (3dro)v rpv&OKev aKavdaig. 
"Aetdov Kopvdot Kal aKavdldeg, ear eve rpvyo)v • 
Hgjt&vto i-ovdal nepl nidaKag dfupl \ieXiooai • 
YidvT > (bodev ftepeog fidXa nlovog, (Lode 6' dnupag. 
Id., Idyll., vii., 136, seqq. 



ECLOGUE II. 
6. O crudelis Alexi ! nihil mea carmina curas ? 

T ft Xevkcl TaXdreta^i rov faXeovr' dnoddXXy ; 

Id., Idyll., xi., 19. 



7. mori me denique coges. 

aTrdygaoOai fie Trotrjoelg. 

Id., Idyll., iii., 9. 



9. Nunc virides etiam occultant spineta lacertos. 

'Avlfta 6rj Kal oavpog ev ai\iao idiot KaOevdei. 

Id., Idyll., vii., 22. 



18. Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. 

AevKov to Kpivov earl, fiapaiverai, dvina ttlttt'q • 
'A 6e %i&v XevKa, Kal raKerac avUa naxdy. 

Id., Idyll., xxiii., 30, sea. 

Kal to lov fieXav evri, Kal a ypanra vaKivdog ■ 
'AAA* efinag ev rolg orecpdvoig ra rcpdra Xeyovrai. 

Id., Idyll., x., 28, sea. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. IX 

Versa 

19. Despectus tibi sum, nee, qui sim, quasris, Alexi ; 
Quam dives pecoris, nivei quam lactis abundans, &c. 

'AAA' o)vroc, Toiovrog kwv, (3ot& %iXia flooicc), 
Ktjk Tovroiv to Kpanorov d\ieXyo\iEvoq ydXa mvo) • 
Tvpbg d' ov Xslttel ju' ovr' ev depei, ovr^ kv dncjpa, 
Ov %ei[i(ovos atcpG) • rapaoi 6' vnepaxdeeg aiti. 
Tvpiodev d' d)c ovrig huiora\Lai wde K.vkXg)ttg)v, 
Tlv, to <f>iXov yXvicvpaXov, a\ia nr\\iavTbv aeiduv, 
HoXXdtci vvfcrbg aupL 

Id., Idyll., xi., 34, seqq. 



28. tantum libeat mecura tibi sordida rura 

Atque humiles habitare casas, et figere cervos, &c. 

''E^evdoig, TaXdreia, icai si-evdoloa XdQoio 
("QonEp ey&v vvv G)6e /taOrjfievog), oiicad' aTT£vdr\v • 
ILoLfjbatvev <5' edeXoig ovv e \iiv, d\ia nai ydV dfieXyev, 
~Kal Tvpbv nat-ai, rdyaaov dpifielav eveloa. 

Id., Idyll., xi., 63, seqq. 



36. Est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis 
Fistula, DamcEtas dono mihi quam dedit olim. 

T H \idv rot fcrjyoyv ovptyy' ex<*> evved<p(ovov, 
Aevkov Kapbv exoioav, loov tcaro), loov avudev. 

Id., Idyll., viii., 21, seq. 



40. Praeterea duo, nee tuta mihi valle reperti, 

Capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo, &c. 

T H fidv roc XevKav didyfiardfcov alya <j>vXdooG), 
Tdv fie ml a Mepfivuvog 'Epidaicig a fieXavoxpug 
Airei • nai dWcD ol, enel nti \ioi kv6iaQpv-nT%\. 

Id.) Idyll., iii., 34, seqq. 



X GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

60. Quern fugis, ab, demens 1 habitarunt di quoque silyas, 
&c. 

'AAA', on (3(DKoXog kfifii, rrapedpafie • k 1 ovnor^ clkovel, 
'Qg KaXbg Aiovvoog ev ayiceoi Troprtv eXavvev 
Ovk eyvo) 6' on Kvnpig en 1 dvipi firjvaro pura, 
Kai $pvyioig evdfievaev ev &pEOiv • avrbv "A6g)vlv 
'Ev dpvfjboloi <f>iXa<7£, Kai ev dpvfioloiv ekXclvoev. 

Id., Idyll., xx., 32, seqq. 



63. Torva leaena lupum sequitur ; lupus ipse capellam ; 
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella, &c. 

'A al% rbv kvtigov, 6 XvKog rdv alya Slwkel, 
f A yipavog r&porpov ■ kyd d' ettI riv \iE\idv7\\Lai. 

Id., Idyll., x., 30, seq. 



69. Ab, Corydon ! Corydon ! quae te dementia cepit ! 
Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est, &c. 

T £2 KvkXg)iJ), KvKXwxp, na Tag (ppivag EKTTEnoraaaL ; 
At/c' Evd&v raXdpog re nXEKOLg, Kai daXXbv d\maag 
Talg apvEoai <f>£pocg, rd%a kev ttoXv \idXkov Ixpig 

vovv. 
Tdv rrapsoloav dfiEXys • ri rbv (psvyovra diu>K£ig ; 
1&vp7]OEZg TaXdreiav lawg Kai KaXXlov 1 aXkav. 

Id., Idyll., xi., 72, seqq. 



ECLOGUE III. 



1. M. Die mibi, Damceta, cujum pecus 1 an Meliboei? 
D. Non ; verum JEgonis : nuper mihi tradidit JEgon. 

B. Et7Te fiot, o> Kopvdojv, rivog at 6o£g ; t\ pa $ik&vda ; 
K. Ovk, dXK Alywvog • (36okev 6e [ioi avrag eSukev. 

Id., Idyll., iv., 1, seq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XI 

»rso 

3. Hie alienus oves custos bis mulget in hora ; 
Et succus pecori, et lac subducitur agnis. 

r H nd ifje Kpvtdav rd nodeonepa rrdoag dfieXyeg j 

# # * # # # 

<bev, (f>ev • (3aaevvrai Kai rat (36eg, & rdXav Alyuv, 
Etc 'Atdav, o/ca Kai rv ica/edg rjpdocrao vfaag. 

Id., Idyll., iv., 3. 

" " 26, seq. 



28. Vis ergo, inter nos, quid possit uterque, vicissim 
Experiamur 1 ego hanc vitulam (ne forte recuses, &c. 

Xpqodetg &v egtdelv, xpyjodetg KaraBelvai aedXov ; 

Id., Idyll n viii., 11. 

Alyd re rot Sooti dtSvfiaroKov eg rplg dfieXt-at, 
"A, (Ji? ex 010 ' epfyug, ixorap^eX^erat kg 6vo ireXXag. 

Id., Idyll., i., 25, seq. 

'AXXd rl [idv tirjoetg ; rt de rb ttXeov et-et 6 vik&v ; 

Id., Idyll., viii., 17. 



32. De grege non ausim quidquam deponere tecum : 
Est mihi namque domi pater, est injusta noverca; 
Bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et haedos. 

Ov -&7]06J noted dfivbv • enel xaXendg #' 6 Trarrjp fiev 
X' a p,drr\p • rd de \idXa nodeonepa ndvr 1 dptdfievvrt. 
Id., Idyll., viii., 15, seq. 



36. pocula ponam 

Fagina, caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis : 
Lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis, &c. 

Kai ftadi) Ktaav6tov, Ke/cXvafievov ddei icapti, 
'AfKptieg, vsorev%eg, en yXvfyavoio noroadov • 



Xll GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

Tco 7T£pl fiev %eiXr\ \iapverai vxpodt Kiooog, 
"Ktoabg eXixpvaixi neicoviofievog ' a de Kar' avrbv 
KapiTG) eXi% eiXelrai dyaXXofieva KpoKoevri. 

Ovde rl na rcori %eZXog efibv Myev, dXV en tcelrai 
"Axpavrov. 

Id., Idyll., i., 27, seqq. 



44. Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, 
Et molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho. 

'Evrt de fiot yavXbg mmapiooivog, evri de Kparrjp, 
"'Epyov Ilpa^creXevg • ra Tzaidi de ravra (pvXdoacj. 

Id., Idyll., v., 104, seq. 

Havrd d' d/Mpi denag nepiTrenraraL vypbg arcavdog, 
AloXutov ri -Bdrnia • repag tee rv fty/ibv arv^ai. 

Id., Idyll., i., 55, seq. 



60. Ab Jove principium, Musse : Jovis omnia plena. 

'E/c Aide ap%(ji\Leada, Kai eg Aia Xrjyere Moloat. 

Id., Idyll., xvii., 1. 



62. Et me Pbcebus amat : Phcebo sua semper apud me 
Munera sunt, lauri, et suave rubens hyacintbus. 

Kai yap e^ 'SIttoXXcjv <f>iXeei fieya' real ttaXbv avrti 
Kpibv eyio (36<jk(o • ra de Kdpvea Kai dr) ecpepTrei. 

Id., Idyll., v., 82, seq. 

64. Malo me G-alatea petit, lasciva puella. 
Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri. 

TSdXXei Kai \idXoiai rbv alnoXov a KXeaplara, 
Tag alyag rrapeXevvra, Kai adv rt irorcrrvXidadei. 

Id., Idyll., v., 88, seq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED- Xlll 

Verse 

66. At mihi sese offert ultro, meus ignis, Amyntas, 
Notior ut jam sit canibus non Delia nostris. 

Krjfie yap 6 Kpartdag rbv notfisva Xeloc vnavrciv 
^KfiaLvei ■ Xmapa 6e Trap' avx^va oe'let' edetpa. 

Id., Idyll., v., 90, seq. 



68. Parta meae Veneri sunt munera ; namque notavi 
Ipse locum, aeriae quo congessere palumbes. 

K^yw p,ev 6g)ogj ra napdevu avrina (pdaaav, 
'Ek rag dpKevdo) KadeXuv • rrjvei yap etyiodet. 

Id., Idyll., v., 96, seq. 



70. Quod potui, puero, silvestri ex arbore lecta, 
Aurea mala decern misi ; eras altera mittam. 

"Hvcde rot deaa fidXa (pepo) • ttjvoj 6e icadeViov, 
T £2 p? eneXev nadeXelv rv • /cat avptov aXXa joi olaio. 

Id., Idyll. , iii., 10, seq. 



96. Tityre, pascentes a flumine reice capellas : 
Ipse, ubi tempus erit, omnes in fonte lavabo. 

Alyec ip,al dapoelre itepovxifeg ' avpiov vp,p,e 
Haoac eyeb XovaCj ^vdaplndog svdodt updvac. 

Id., Idyll., v., 145, seq. 



ECLOGUE IV. 



The following passages of Isaiah may be here cited, not 
as having been imitated by Virgil in any way, but as con- 
taining a strong resemblance in imagery to various parts 
of this remarkable Eclogue. 

6. Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna ; 
Jam nova progenies ccelo demittitur alto, &c. 
2 



XIV GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

Kai Ei-eXevoerai pdddog ek Tr)g pity]g 'leooai, Kai av. 
dog ek T^g pi£»r\g ava6i]aerai. 

Kai avanavGETai £7r' avrbv nvEv/xa tov Qeov, 7rvevjjba 
oo(f>Lag, Kai ovvioEOjg, ixvEv\ia (5ovXr)g Kai loxvog, 
TTvevua yvcjoeug Kai evoeteiag. 

Isaiah, xi., 1, seq. 

"Otl naidtov eyevvrjdrj rjfilv, vibg Kai edodr) Jjfilv, ov 
r) apxr) kyevvrjdrj km tov cjfiov avrov, Kai KaXelrai to 
ovofia avTov, Mzyakr\g j3ovXrjg ayyeXog. 

Isaiah, ix., 6. 



8. Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum 
Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo, &c. 

lS,v6pavdf)TG) 6 ovpavbg avudev, Kai at vecpeXat pavd- 
TG)oav 6iKaioovvr\v • dvaTEcXaTG) r) yr), Kai (3XaoTrjcrd- 
to) eAeoc. 

Isaiah, xlv., 8. 



13. Te duce si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri, 
Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras, &c. 

ai-G) yap Eip7\vr\v kni Tovg apxovTag, Kai vyistav avTu>. 

M.EydXrj tj dp%r\ avTov, Kai TTjg ElprjvTjg avTov ovk eo- 
tiv opiov kni tov ftpovov Aavid, Kai tt)v (3aotkElav 
avTov, KaTopBCjoat avTr)v, Kai dvTikabeaQai kv Kpi\La- 
ti Kai ev diKaioovvq, and tov vvv Kai Eig tov altiva. 

Isaiah, ix., 6, seq. 

18. At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu, 

Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus, &c. 

Kai r) dot-a tov kibdvov npbg as t)%ei, ev Kvnapioaa) 
Kai ttevkt) Kai KEdpu) djia, dot-doai tov totcov t6v 
ayidv fiov. Isaiah, lx., 13. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XV 

Verso 

'Ev<ppdvd7]Tt eprjfiog diipuaa, dyaXXidoOo) eprjfiog, Kai 
dvOelrcj &g npivov. 

Isaiah, xxxv., 1. 

2vfi6ooK7id7)oeTai XvKog fxerd dpvbg, nai rrdpdaXig 
avvavanavaeTac epi<f)G), nai \ioaxdptov icai ravpog feat 
Xeuv dfia (3oaK7]6^aovTac, Kal Tratdlov p,utpbv a&L av- 
rovg. 

Kal (iovg Kai apKrog aua ^oGKtp7]Govrai, nai dfia rd 
Ttaidia avrtiv eaovrai • Kai Xe<*)v o>c (iovg <f>dyerai 
&xvpa. 

Kal naidlov vtjttiov enl TporyX&v damdov, Kal enl 
kolttjv EKyovuv donidcov Trjv x&P a em6aXei. 

Kal ov firj KaKonoir\aovoiv, ovdk (jltj 6vvg)vtoi dnoXe- 
oai ovdeva enl rb bpog rb ayiov fiov ■ ore evenXr\oQr\ 
i\ ovfinaoa rov yvdvai rbv Kvpiov, o>c vdop noXv na- 
raKaXv\pai -daXdooag. 

Isaiah, xi., 6, seqa. 

28. Molli paullatira flavescet campus arista, 

Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, &c. 

"Eorai i] dvvdpog elg eXrj • Kal elg ttjv diijjcooav yrjv 
nrjyrj vdarog earai, skeI ev<ppo<7vv7] dpveoyv, enavXeig 
KaXdfjLov Kal eXy. 

Isaiah, xxxv., 7. 

Kal avrl rr\g OTQihr\g dvad^aerai Kvndpiooog, dvrl 
6e TTjg Kovvfyg dva&rjoerai fivpoivrj. 

Isaiah, lv., 13. 



XVI GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 



ECLOGUE V. 

Verse 

20. Exstinctum nymphae crudeli funere Daplinin 

Flebant : vos coruli testes, et flumina, nymphis, &c 

Kal Nvfj,(f)ai nXaiovaiv 'Opeiddsg • a <S' 'Appodtra, 
Avoafieva TrXoKapldag, dva dpvfitig aXdXrjrai 
HevdaXea, vrjnXeKTog, dadvdaXog ' at de (3droi viv 
'Ep^ojitevav Keipovri, Kal lepov alua dpeTrovrac. 
'O^v de KOKvovaa dc' ajKea fiaKpa (popelrai, 
'Aoovpiov (3o6o)aa ttooiv, Kal nalda KaXevaa. 

Bion, Idyll., i., 19, seqq. 



24. Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus 

Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla nee am- 

nem 
Libavit quadrupes, nee graminis attigit herbam. 

"Slpea d' earlv defHova, Kal at (36eg, at norl ravpotg 
ILXaoddfisvaL, yodovn, Kal ovk ediXovrc ve/ieadac. 
Moschus, Idyll., iii., 23, seq. 



27. Daphni, tuum Pcenos etiam ingemuisse leones 
Interitum, montesque feri silvasque loquuntur. 

Ttjvov fxdv tfwec, ttjvov Xvkol (bpvaavro, 
Tr)vov %& '/c dpvjJLolo Xecov aveKXavae davovra. 

Theocr., Idyll., i., 71, seq. 



32. Vitis ut arboribus decori est, ut vitibus uvae, 

Ut gregibus tauri, segetes ut pinguibus arris, &c. 

Ta dpvt ral ftdXavot Koouog, ra fiaXldc fidXa, 
Ta (3ot d' a \ioo^pg, tg> /3w/c6Aa> at (36eg avrai. 

Id., Idyll., viii., 79, seq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XV11 

Verte 

38. Pro molli viola, pro purpureo narcisso, 
Carduus, et spinis surgit paliurus acutis. 

Nvv la uev (popeoire parol, Qopeoire 6' dicavdoi, 
'A 6e naXa vdpKiooog £7r' apKevdoiai Ko\idaai. 

Id., Idyll., i., 132, sea. 

43. Daphnis ego in silvis, hinc usque ad sidera notus, 
Formosi pecoris custos, formosior ipse. 

Adtyvig kyibv ode rr\vog, 6 rag (36ag tide vouevov, 
kdchvig 6 rug ravpcjg Kal Tropnag &de rtoriodoiv. 

Id., Idyll, i., 120, sea. 



45. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta,, 

Quale sopor fessis in gramme ; quale, per aestum, 
Dulcis aquae saliente sitim restinguere rivo. 

'Adv rt rb ipiOvpiaaa Kal a irirvg, alrroXe, rrjva, 
"A nori ralg nayalai fieXloderai • ddv 6e Kal rv 
Zvpiodeg ■ fierd ILava rb devrepov aBXov d-noioq • 

Id., Idyll., i., 1, seaa. 



65. Sis bonus O, felixque, tuis ! en quatuor aras ! 

Ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duas altaria Phoebo ! &c. 

'AyedvaKri ttXoov diC,r\uevu eg MvriXdvav 
"Slpia ndvra yevoiro, Kal evnXoov bpuov iKoiro. 
Ki]y(b,rrjvo /car' duap,dvr\Qivov , rj podoevra, 
"H Kal XevKot(x>v ore<pavov rrepl Kparl (f>vXdoao)v, 
Tov HreXeartKov olvov dnb Kparr\pog d(j>vt-(o, 
II dp nvpl KeKXiuevog • Kvauov 6e rig ev nvpl (ppv^ei, 
X' a ori6ag eaaelrai Treirv Kaa\ieva ear' enl -ndxvv 
Kvv£a r\ do^odeXa) re, TtoXvyvd\nxru> re oeXivo). 
Kal mofiai uaXaKug, ueuvauevog 'AyedvaKrog, 
Avralaiv KvXiKeaai Kal eg rpvya x £ ^og epeidcjv. 
2* 



XV1U GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

AvXtjoevvtl 6s \ioi 6vo notjisvsg • elg fisv, 'A%apvsvg 
~Elg 6s, AvKComTog • 6 6s Tirvpog syyvQsv aasl. 

Id., Idyll., vii., 61, seqq. 

83. nee quae 

Saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles. 

"A6wv, a) 7roifj,dv, to rsbv fisXog, rj to Karax&g 
Trjv' and rag nsrpag KaraXsibsrai vxpodsv v6op. 

Id., Idyll., i., 7, seq. 

88. At tu surae pedum, quod, me quum saepe rogaret, 
Non tulit Antigenes (et erat turn dignus amari), 
Formosum paribus nodis, atque sere, Menalca. 

"Q.g scpapav snlra6sg • 6 (5' alnoXog, a6v ysXdgag, 
Tdv rot,, scpa, Kopvvav 6(j)pvrro\Lai, ovvsksv scot 
Hdv £?r' dXadslg, nsTxXaa\isvov sre Aidg spvog. 

Id., Idyll., vii., 42. 



ECLOGUE VI. 



31. Nam que canebat, uti magnum per inane coacta 

Semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent, &c. 

"Rsi6s (5' d)g yala nai ovpavbg 7}6s ftdXaooa 
Tonpiv £7t' dXXr\Xoioi \ii%\ ovvaprjpdra iiopcpq, 
Nsifcsog eg oXoolo 6csKpi6sv d\i$lg sKaara • 
'Ho" &g sfi7rs6ov alsv sv aldspi rsufiap sxovglv 
"Aarpa, osXrjvair) rs, nai tjsXlolo ttsXsvdoi • 
Ovpsd #' cog avsrsiXs, nai <bg Trora/zot KeXd6ovrsg, 
Avtxjol NviMprjot, nai spnsrd navr* sysvovro. 

Apoll. Rhod., i., 496, seqq. 



44. His adjungit, Hylan nautae quo fonte relictum 

Clamassent, ut littus, Hyla ! Hyla ! omne sonaret. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XIX 

Tpig fiev "TXav dvoEv, baov j3advg rjpvye Xat/iog • 
Tpig d' dp' 6 nalg vndicovoev • dpatd 6' lketo <j)G)v& 
'E£ vdarog ■ napeo)v 6e \idXa axedbv elSeto noppu. 
Theocr., Idyll. , xiii., 58, seqq. 



62. Turn Phaethontiadas rausco circumdat amarae 
Corticis, atque solo proceras erigit alnos. 

'HXtddsg, ravayaLV kXiyfiEvai alyeipoioi, 
Mvpovrai KLvvpbv (ieXecu yoov ■ etc 6e (paecvdg 
'HXifcrpov Xtbddag (3Xe(f)dpG)v npoxeovotv epa^e. 

Apoll. Rkod., iv., 604, seqq. 



ECLOGUE VII. 



Forte sub arguta, consederat ilice Daphnis, 
Compulerantque greges Cory don et Thyrsis in unum, 
Thyrsis oves, Corydon distentas lacte capellas ; 
Ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo, 
Et cantare pares, et respondere parati. 

Ad(pvtdL tg3 x a P LeVTi ovvrjvrero (3g)koXeovtl 
TttdXa ve/j,g)v, cjc ((hivtl, kclt'' tipsa fiaKpd MsvaXicag. 

"A(J,(f)G) TGiy' T\TT\V TTVppOTpi%G), dfl(f)G) dvd6d). 

"AucpG) rvptodev dsdarjjiEVG), afxcbo) detdev. 

Theocr., Idyll., viii., i., seqq. 



37. Nerine Galatea, tliymo mihi dulcior Hyblae, 
Candidior cycnis, hedera formosior alba, &c. 

T Q. levied YaXdreia ri rbv tyiXzovr'' dixotaXX^ ; 
AevKorepa iratcrdg Troridrjv, dv;aX(x)TEpa dpvog, 
Moct^g) yavpoTspa, faapurEpa op,(f)aKog (hfidg ■ 
QoL-riq d' avd 1 ovriog, oicica yXvKvg vnvog EXXI ^ ' 
Olxxi & svdvg tola* ontta yXvicvg vnvog dvy p,E. 

Id., Idyll., xi., 19, seqq. 



XX GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

45. Muscosi fontes, et somno mollior herba, 

Et quae vos rara. viridis tegit arbutus umbra, &c. 

elpca rade Txarrpzlg, 
At/c' evQqg, virvG) fiaXaKwrepa. 

Id., Idyll., v., 50. 

Kpavai Kal fiordvai, yXvuepbv <pvrov, alnep Ofiolov 
Movoiodet Ad(f>vig ralaiv drfiovioiv, 

Tovro to fiuKoXiov maivere ■ lerjv ti MevaXtcag 
iLelvS 1 dydyq, xaipoyv a<pdova navra vefioc. 

Id., Idyll., viii., 37, seqq. 



49. Hie focus, et taedae pingues, hie plurimus ignis 
Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri, &c. 

'Evrt dpvbg %vXa fioi, Kal vnb ottoSg) atcdfiarov nvp. 
Kai6p,£vog (5' vnb revg Kal rav ipvxav avExoi\iav. 

Id., Idyll., xi., 51, seq. 



53. Stant et juniperi, et castaneae hirsutae, 

Strata jacent passim suaquaque sub arbore poma, &c. 

Havra eap, navra ds vofioi, navra 6e ydXaKrog 
OvOara nXrjdovoiv, Kal rd vea rpecperai, 

"Ev0' a KaXa nalg emvioaeraL ' al (5' dv d(pipn-q, 
Xo) noifidv ^Tjpog rrjvodt, %' al j3ordvai. 

Id., Idyll., viii., 41, seqq. 



70. Ex illo Corydon, Corydon est, tempore, nobis. 

KfjK tovtg) Ad(f)VLg napa noifieat nparog eyevro. 

Id., Idyll., viii., 92. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXI 



ECLOGUE VIII. 

Verse 

32. O digna conjuncta viro ! dum despicis oranes, 

Dumque tibi est odio mea fistula, dum que capellse, 
&c. 

TivuxJKG), %apiEaaa Kopa, rivog ovvena fevyeig • 
Ovvstcd \ioi Xaoia fiev 6<ppvg enl navrl ^£tg37tg> 
'E£ o)rbg rerarac norl ddrspov wc [iia fiatcpd ■ 
Etc d' 6<pdaX^,bg enean, nXaTEia de pig enl xeiXei. 
Id., Idyll., xi., 30, seqq. 



37. Sepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala, 

Dux ego vester eram, vidi cum matre legentem, &c. 

'HpdodTjv fiev Eywya rsovg, Kopa, dvina irparov 
r Kv6eg kfia ovv p,arpi, ■SeXolo' vatcivdtva (pvXXa 
'E^ bpEog dpEipaodai • eya> <5' bdbv dy£fi6v£vov. 
HavaaaOai 6' kgid&v rv nai varspov ov6e rl no) vvv 
*E« ttjvo) 6vva\iai ■ 

Id., Idyll,, xi., 25, seqq. 



43. Nunc scio, quid sit Amor : duris in cotibus ilium 
Aut Tmaros, aut Rhodope, aut extremi Garamantes, 
&c. 

ISvv syvojv rbv "Epoyra • (3api>g -dsog • r\ pa Xsaivag 
Maadbv EOfjXat-EV, tipvfiti te \uv irpacps \idrr\p. 

Id., Idyll., iii., 15, seq. 



52 Nunc et oves ultro fugiat lupus ; aurea durae 
Mala ferant quercus ; narcisso floreat alnus, &c. 

Nvv la [iev (popioLTE fidroi, (popsoiTE <S' dicavdai, 
f A 6e icaXd vdpucGOog etc* dpKEvdoiai KOfidoai * 
TLdvra d' svaXXa yivoiro, Kal a nirvg o%vag kvuKai^ 



XX11 GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

Ad(f)vig enei "Bvdanei • nai rag Kvvag &Xa/pog eXicoi, 
Ktj^ 6pi(x)v rot Ofctineg arjdooi yapvaaivro. 

Id., Idyll., i., 132, seqq. 



59. Praeceps aerii specula de montis in undas 

Deferar ; extremum hoc munus morientis habeto. 

Tdv fiairav dnodvg eg tcvfiara rrjva dXevpai, 
r Slnep rug -&vvvo)g GKOixidoderai "OXrug 6 ypmevg • 
~K.7]tca \ir\ 'noddvd), to ye fidv rebv ddi> rervKrat. 

Id., Idyll., iii., 25, seqq. 



64. Effer aquam, et molli cinge haec altaria vitta, 
Verbenasque adole pingues, et mascula tura ; 
Conjugis ut magicis sanos avertere sacris 
Experiar sensus. 

Ila fioi rat ddcfyvac ; <pepe QearvXc • na de rd cpiXrpa ; 
Zreipov rdv neXetav <f)oivt,tceG) olog dwrw, 
'ftc rdv ep,oi (3api)v evvra (plXov na~aQvoo\Lai avdpa. 

Id., Idyll., ii., 1, seqq. 



80. Liraus ut hie durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit 
Uno eodemque igni ; sic nostro Daphnis amore. 

f Q.g rovrov rbv tcapbv eyd) avv 6ai\iovi rd/co, 
,v £2c rdKOiQ'' im"* epcorog 6 Mvvdtog avrina AeXfag. 

Id., Idyll., ii., 2S, seq. 



82. Sparge molam, et fragiles incende bitumine lauros. 
Daphnis me malus urit : ego hanc in Daphnide 
laurum. 

"KXfyird tol Ttparov nvpl rdaerai ■ d/U,' emTTaooe, 
QeorvXt. 

Id., Idyll., ii., 18, seq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XX1U 

Verse 

AeA0£c e^' dviaaev • ey& d' enl keXfyidi 6d<pvav 
AWo) ' %' tig avrd Xanel fieya, k. t. X. 

Id., Idyll., ii., 23, seq. 

91. Has olim exuvias mihi perfidus ille reliquit, 
Pignora cara sui. 

Tour' a7ro raf x^ aiVa S T0 fcpdanedov &Xeoe AeXcptg, 
,v £2 'yco vvv rlXXoioa icar' dypiu ev irvpl fidXXd). 

Id., Idyll., ii., 53, seq, 

101. Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras ; rivoque fluenti 

Transque caput jace, nee respexeris : his egoDaphnin 
Aggrediar. 

T Hpt 6e ovXXe^aaa tcoviv nvpog dfKptiroXcjv rig 
'Ptifjdro) ev \idXa rrdaav vnep norapmo fyepoioa, 
'Poyddag eg irerpag, vnepovpiov • dtp 6e veeodai 
"AoTpenrog. 

Id., Idyll., xxiv., 91, seqq. 



ECLOGUE IX. 
1. Quo. te Mceri, pedes ] 

'Li\ii , )(ida, na drj tv \ieaa\Lepiov irodag eXnecg ; 

Id., Idyll., vii., 21. 



23. Tityre, dum redeo, brevis est via, pasce capellas ; 
Et potum pastas age, Tityre ; et, inter agendum, &c. 

KQfidado) ttoti rdv 'AfiapvXXida • rat 6e \ioi alyeg 
BooKovrat Kar 1 bpog, nai 6 Ttrvpog avrdg eXavvet. 
Ttrvp\ ep,lv to kclXov rce(ptXa\ieve, (36otce rag alyag, 
Kat rrorl rdv Kpdvav dye, Tirvpe • teal rdv evopxav 
Tbv Ai6vitbv tcvditwa (pvXdooeo, firj tv nop-Ofy. 

Id., Idyll., iii., 1, seqq. 



XXIV GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED- 

Verse 

39. Hue ades, O Galatea ! quis est nam ludus in undis 1 
Hie ver purpureum : varios hie flumina circum, &c. 

'A X X* a(piK£v tv nod' d\ii, Kal kt-slg ovdev IXaaaov • 
Tdv yXavicdv 6e -BdXaaaav la ttotl x^P O0V bp£X®^ v - 
"Adtov kv T&VTp(p nap' Efilv rav vvfera Sia^slg. 
'Evrt ddxbvai r^vei, evtl padtvai Kvndpioooi, 
'Evrt fisXag Kiooog, evr' afinsXog a, yXvuvitapnog 
'Evr£ ipvxpov vd(op, to fioi a noXvdevdpeog Al-rva 
Aevftag ek X c ° V0 S> noTdv d[i6poatov, npoir\TL ■ 
Tig ttdv Ttjvde ddXaaoav sx £LV rj kv\loQ' ) eXoito ; 

Id., Idyll., xi., 42, seqq. 



54. lupi Mcerin videre priores. 

Ov (pdsyt-Trj • Xvkov elcJec (snails Tig) o>c oocpbg EinEv. 

Id., Idyll., xiv., 22. 



57. Et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor ; et omnes, 
Aspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris aurae. 

'Hvids aiya p,sv novTog, oiytivTi d' drjrai. 

Id., Idyll., ii., 38. 

Ta 6e viv ttaXd KVfiaTa cpaivEi, 
"Aovxa KaxXdodovTa in 1 aiyiaXolo dioioav. 

Id., Idyll., vi., 11, sea. 



59. Hinc adeo media est nobis via ; namque sepulcrum 
Incipit apparere Bianoris. 

Kovno) Tav uEoaTav bdbv avvfiEg, ov6e to adfia 
*Afilv T6J Bpaaida KaTEcpaivETO • 

Id., Idyll, vii., 10, seq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXV 



ECLOGUE X. 

Verse 

9. Quae nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae 
N aides, indigno quum Gallus araore peribat, &c. 

Ila ttok' dp' rjd\ ofta Ad(f)VLg kraKero, nd noKa Nvfic/xu ; 
"H Kara Urjveiio itaXd repnea, rj Kara Illvdo) ; 
Ov yap 6rj norafiti ye \ieyav poov efyer' 'AvdnG), 
Ovd' A'lrvag GKonidv, ovcJ' "AKtdog iepbv v6o)p. 

Ttjvov \iav -B&eg, rrjvov Xvkol (hpvaavro, 
Trjvov x<l) 'k dpvfiolo Xecov dveKXavae fiavovra. 

JloXXal ol Trap 9 ixoaal (36eg, noXXol de re ravpoc, 
JloXXal <5' av 6a\idXai Kal noprieg (bdvpavro. 

Id., Idyll., i., 66, seqq. 



18. Et formosus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis. 

'ttpalog %' "Qdotvig, enel Kal fiaXa vo\ievei, 
Kai nrioKag (3dXXei, Kal ti^pla raXXa SiuKei. 

Id., Idyll., i., 109, seq. 



19. Venit et upilio, tardi venere bubulci ; 

Uvidus hiberna venit de glande Menalcas, &c. 

T Hv0' 'JZppag irpdnorog an 1 tipeog, elne de, Ad(pvi, 
Tig rv Kararpvxei ; rivog, u) 'yaOe, rooaov epaaoai ; 
r H.v0ov rol (3(orat, rol rroLfieveg, (hnoXoc tjvOov. 
Hdvreg dvr]p6revv, ri frdBoi KaKov ■ t\vQ' 6 Hpirjrcog, 
K7J(f>a, Ad(f>vc rdXav, ri rv raKeai ; a de re Kupa, 
Haaag dva Kpdvag, irdvr'' aXoea rroaal (popelrat 
Zareva\ 

Id., Idyll., i., 77, seqq. 



35. Atque utinam ex vobis unus, vestrique fuissem 
Aut eustos gregis, aut maturae vinitor uvae, &c. 
3 



XXVI GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verso 

MO' £7t' e^ev ^oyolg kvapiQ\iiog oj^eXeg rjfisv, 
"Qg roc eyd)v evdfievov dv > cjpea rag KaXdg alyag, 
<Po)vdg elgaluyv • rv d' vno dpvalv rj vtto rrevKaig 
'Adv jieXiodonevog KareKeKXtoo, dele Kofidra. 

Id., Idyll., vii., 86, seqq. 



39. Et nigrae violae sunt, et vaccinia nigra. 

Kai to lov fisXav kvri, Kai a ypanrd vdmvdog. 

Id., Idyll., x., 28. 



65. Nee si frigoribus mediis Hebrumque bibamus, 
Sithoniasque nives hiemis subeamus aquosse. 

Et7/C (5' 'Hdwvwv fzev kv copeoi %E.i\iari ueaacd, 
r 'E6pov nap irorafidv, TErpa\i\ikvog kyyvOsv apKTG). 
Id., Idyll., vii., Ill, seq. 



GEORGIC. I. 



43. Vere novo, gelidus canis quum montibus humor 
Liquitur, et Zepbyro putris se gleba resolvit, &c. 

~Evr' av dfj 'Kp&riar' aporog ^vr\roloi (pavetrj, 
A?/ tot* e(f)0pfX7jdrjvai, dfxojg d/xwec re Kai avrog, 
AvTjv Kai 6Lepr)v apocov, aporoio Kad' tjprjv, 
Hpot p.dXa onevdejv, Iva rot, TtXr\B(AGiv apovpat. 

Hesiod, Op., 456, seqq. 



47. Ilia seges demum votis respondet avari 

Agricolae, bis quae solem, bis frigora sensit, &c. 

'H de Karepyaola ev tg> vedv Kar' dfi^orepag rag 
&pag Kai depovg Kai %ei\Ldvog, brroyg x et r La ^V Ka ^ 
TjXicjdirj r) yr). 

Theophrast., Cans. Plant., iii., 25. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXV11 

Verse 

52. ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum. 

$aoi yap rov \1iXX0vTa bpQ&g yeupyrjaeiv tt)v <f>voiv 
Xp7\vai TTpcJrov Tr)g yr)g eldivac ■ opdtig ye, ed>7jv eyo), 
ravra Xiyovreg, 6 yap fir) eld&g 6 ri dvvarat r) yr) (f>e- 
peiv, ov6' b ri oneipeiv, olo\iai, ov6' 6 ri (pvrevecv del 
eldeirj av. 

Xen., (Econ., xvi., 2. 



77. Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenae, &c. 

'ErLicapni&Tat. o<f>66pa 6 alyCXcdip rr)v yr\v, Kai kari 
TroXvppL^ov Kal TtoXvKaXa\iov . 

TJieophrast., Caus. Plant., iv. 



80. Ne saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola. 

Kai r) Konpog 6e fieydXa f3orjdel, tu> diaOepfialveiv Kal 
ovfineTTTeiv. 

Id., Hist. Plant., viii. 



95. neque ilium 

Flava Ceres alto nequidquam spectat Olympo : 

Ovg 66 kev ei>iiEi6f)g re Kai IXaog avydaar\ai, 
Kelvocg ev p,ev apovpa (pepei OTd%vv. 

Callim., H in Dian., 129, seq. 



111. Quid, qui, ne gravidis procumbat culmus aristis, 
Luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba, &c. 

'Ev 6s ralg dyadalg x&P ai S-> ^pbg to firj <f>vXXo(j,avelv, 
emvefiovoL Kai emKEipovoi tov gItov. 

Tkeop7irast., Hist. Plant., viii. 



121. Pater ipse colendi 

Haud facilem esse viam voluit. 



XXVlli GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

Kpvipavreg yap exovoi deoi fiiov avOpunoioi. 

****** 

'AAAd Zevg eKpvipe, ^oAaxrajLievof (ppealv §aiv. 

Hesiod, Op., 42, 47. 



124. Nee torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno. 

Tw 61 $eoi ve\ieadoi Kai dvepeq, 6c kev depybg 
7*&% KTjcprjveaoi KoOovpotg eiKeXog bpyr\v. 

Hesiod, Op., 301, seq. 



125. Ante Jovera nulli subigebant arva coloni, &c. 

Tlpiv fiev yap ^coeoKov enl x^ovl tyvX' avdpcjnov 
Nd<70«> arep re KaK&v, Kai arep xake-nolo ttovoio, 
Novawv r' dpyaXeuv, air' avdpdoi KTjpag eduicav. 

Id., Op., 90, seqq. 

131. ignemque removit. 

Kpinpe 6e rrvp. 

Id., Op., 50„ 



138. Pleiadas, Hyadas, claramque Lycaonis Arcton. 

TLX7j'iddag #' "Yddag re, ro re adivog 'Qpiuvog. 

Horn., II., xviii., 486. 



158. Heu ! magnum alterius frustra spectabis acervum ; 
Concussaque famem in silvis solabere quercu. 

firj 7T6JC rd fieral-v x arL &v 
ILru)00'qg dXXorpiovg oiKovg, Kai p,7jdev avvooqg. 

Hesiod, Op., 392, seq. 



162. Vomis, et inflexi primum grave robur aratri, 

Tardaque Eleusinae matris volventia plaustra, &c. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXIX 

"OA//ov fiev rpiix66r\v rdfrvsiv, vnepov 6e rptTTTjxvv, 
"A£ovd #' enranodrjV' \idXa yap vv rot apfisvov ovro' 
~El 6e kev 6tcTaTx6dr]v and real ofyvpav ke id\ioio, 
Tpianlda/iov (T aiptv rd\iVEiv detcadcopo) d\id^. 
IL6XX' knl KafinvXa tcdXa - <pspEiv ds yvrjv, or' av 

EVpW, 

~Elg olfcov, tear' bpog dt^rjfiEvog, r\ /tar' apovpav, 
Uptvivov • bg yap (3ovoiv dpovv oxvpurarog egtiv • 
Eur' av ' AQr\vaiqg dficoog ev sXv\iaTi nr\%ag 
T6p,(f)oiaiv nsXdoag npogaprjpsrai laTobor\i. 
Aoia 6s deodai aporpa, novr\ad\iEVog Kara oIkov, 
Avroyvov Kal nrjfcrov • ettec noXv Xcj'lov ovtco. 
Et x* eTZpov Y at-aic, srspov k' etti (3ovai (3dXoiO' 
Ad(pvr]g d' rj nrsXErjg aKiwrarot laroSorjEg. 
kpvbg sXvfia, nplvov ds yvrjv. 

Id., Op., 421, seaa. 



167. Omnia quae multo ante raemor provisa repones. 

Tow npoodsv \ieXett\v e%e[iev olnrjia #Eodai. 

Id., Op., 455. 



187. Contemplator item, quum se nux plurima silvis 
Induet in florem, et ramos curvabit olentes, &c. 

liplvoi d' ov, tcapnolo /caraxOeeg, ovds fiiXatvai 
ILxJLvoi drTEipTjroi • ndvri] 6e re noXXbg dXwEvg 
AUl namaivEi, \xr\ ot ■dspog ek x e pb$ ^PPV- 

Aratus, Diosem., 312, seqq. 



221. Ante tibi Eoae Atlantides abscondantur, &c. 

UXrj'iddcjv 'ArXayEvsov EntrEXXofiEvdoyv 
"Apx^oO' d\L7\rov " dporoio 6e, dvaofisvaov. 

Hesiod, Op., 381, seq. 
3* 



XXX GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

225. Multi ante occasum Maiae coepere ; sed illos 
Exspectata seges vanis elusit avenis. 

Et oe kev tjeXlolo rponalg dporjg xdova dlav, 
"Kfisvog d\ii\0£ig, bXlyov irepl x £L pog eepyov, 
'AvrLa deofievov KEtioviybivog, ov \idXa xaipuv • 
Oloeig 6' ev (popfiti ■ navpoc 6e ae dTjfjoovrai. 

Id., Op., 477, seqq. 



2,33. Quinque tenent cceIuiii zonae : quarum una corusco 
Semper sole rubens, et torrida semper ab igni, &c. 

UevTe 6e al ^dvai nepieiXddeg ianeLpTjVTO, 
Ai dvo fiiv yXavtcolo neXaivorepov Kvdvoio, 
'H 6e fiia ipcxpapr] re itai ek nvpbg olov epvdprj. 
f H [iev et\v fieadrT], ekekclvto 6e ndaa nepi irpo 
TvnrofXEVT] (pXoypoZGiv, ettec pa avavpoi en' avrrjv 
KEKXtfievac aKrlvsg dstdEpEEg -nvpouoiv. 
Al oe 6vg) EtcdrEpdE TtoXoig 7TEpL7T£7rT7]viai, 
AIeI (ppLKaXsai, alsi d' vdan \Loyiovoiv • 
Ov \iev vdu)p, dXX 9 avrbg drr' ovpavodev KpvaraXXog 
KEirai dv f ap,<pi ixaxv^ai, n£pl\\)VKTog 6i tetvk~(li. 
^AXXd rd fiEv xepoala nai dfitara dvOpdj-rotai ■ 
Aoiai 6' dXXat eclolv kvavriai dXXfjXaiot, 
Meoorjyvg dspeog re nai vetlov KpvordXXov, 

*A(l(f)(0 EVKpTjTOl T£ Kal OflTTVtOV aXdrjOKovoat 

Kapnbv 'EXsvoLVTjg A7]fj,7]-£pog ■ ev 6e [xlv avdpsg 
'AvTiTTodeg valovoi. 

Eratosth., ap. Achill. Tat., p. 153 (ed. 
Bemhardy, p. 144). 



242. Hie vertex nobis semper sublimis : at ilium, &c. 

K.ai fiiv TCEpaivovoL Svcj ttoXol dfMpoTEpudsv • 
'AAA' 6 fj,sv ovk ETctonrog • 6 6" 1 dvriog ek popiao, 
"Tipodsv d)K£avolo ' 6v(D Si \liv ap<f>ig ex ovoai 
"ApKTOL d\ia rpoxooai, rb dfj naXiovrat dfiagat. 

Aratus, Phcen., 24, seqq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXXI 

Tag 6e 6V dficporEpag, olrj rrorafiolo dnoppci)^, 
Et/leirat, fieya davfia, ApaKG)v, irepi r' a\i$i t eay&g 
Mvpcog • at 6' apa ol o-n-ELprjg kudrepde (pvovrai 
"ApKToi, Kvaveov TtE$vXay\iEvai (bfceavolo. 

Id., Phcen.y 45, seqq. 

"ApKTOV #', r)v Kal apat-av EixiKXiqaiv KaXeovaiv, 
f/ Hr' ai)Tov arpi(perac, Kal r' 'tipiuva doKEvet, 
Olrj d' apfiopog egtl XosrpCdv 'titceavolo. 

Horn., II., xviii., 487, seqq. 



259. Frigidus agricolam si quando continet imber; 

Multa, forent quae mox coelo properanda sereno, &c. 

"ttprj xu\Lzpi%], Snore Kpvog dvipag epyoyv 
'lexdvei, evda «' doKvog avrjp \iEya oIkov dtysXXoi. 

Hesiod, Op., 492, seq. 



277. quintam fuge, pallidus Orcus, 

Eumenidesque satae ; turn partu Terra nefando, &c. 

UifiTrrag 6' EJ-aXsaodai, ettel xaXenai, re Kal alval. 
'Ev TTEfiTCTT} yap <paoiv 'Epivvag dfifaTroXevELV, 
"OpKov TivvvybEvag rbv "Epfc teks nr)^ kmopKoig. 

Id.y Op., 800, seqq. 



281. Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam, 

Scilicet atque Ossae frondosam involvere Olympum, 
&c. 

"Oocav e7r' OvXvjjlttg) fisfiaoav ^Efisv, avrdp in' "Oooq 
HtjXlov elvo<jl(pvXXov, lv y ovpavbg dp,6arbg eIt\ ■ 
'AXX' bXsaev A toe vlog, bv r\vKo\iog teks Atjtoj. 

Horn., Od., xi., 315, seqq. 



299. Nudus ara, sere nudus. 



XXX11 GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

yvfivbv oireipeiv, yvfivov de fiooorelv, 
Tvpvbv <5' d\idoQai. 

Hesiod, Op., 390, seq. 



325. Et pluvia ingenti sata laeta boumque labores 
Diluit. 

7]£ TIV* Ofi6pOV 

"Aansrov, oare j3ou>v Kara \ivpia ekXvgev epya. 

Apoll. Rhod., iv., 1282, seq. 



332. Aut Atho, aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ceraunia. 

*H "Add), rj 'Fodonav, rj Kavrcaaov Eaxaroovra. 

Theocr., Idyll., vii., 77. 



341. Turn pingues agni, et turn mollissima vina. 

Trjfiog TrioraraL r' alyeg, Kai olvog dpiarog. 

Hesiod, Op., 583. 

356. Continuo, ventis surgentibus, aut freta ponti 

Incipiunt agitata tumescere, et aridus altis, &c. 

1rnia de rot dvsfiow Kai oldaivovoa ddXaooa, 
Tiyve<70G) * Kai fiarcpov err' alyiaXoi pooovreg, 
'AftTai t' EivdXioi, OTtor* evSioi 7]x^i eaaaL 
Yiyvovrai, Kopv<pai re $o&\iEvai ovpEog afcpat. 

Aratus, Diosem., Ill, seqq. 



362. Cumque marinae in sicco ludunt fulicee. 

TlohXdfcc d' dypiddsg vr)aoai, r] elv dXi dlvai 
Aldviai %Epaala rivdaaovrac ir~Epvy£oaiv. 

Id., Diosem., 186, seqq. 



363. notasque paludes 

Deserit atque altam supra volat ardea nubem. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXX1U 

Verse 

Kai d' dv enl t-rjpfjv 6V spiodibg ov Kara KOCfiov 
'E£ aXbg epx^raL 0cjv^ irepl noXXd XeX7]K(bg, 
Kivvjievov tee ftdXaooav vnEppopEOtr' avefioio. 

Id., Diosem., 181, seqq. 



365. Ssepe etiam Stellas, vento impendente, videbis 
Praecipites coelo labi, noctisque per umbrara 
Flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus. 

Kai did vvtcra ueXaivav or' darepeg dtaaoxri 
Tapcpea, rot d' omOev pv/iol imoXevKaivuvrtu, 
Aeidexdat KEivoig avrrjv bdbv hpxo\i.ivoio 
Hvevfiarog. 

Id., Diosem., 194, seqq. 



368. Saepe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas, 
Aut summa. nantes in aqua colludere plumas. 

"Hd^ Kal ndmroi, XEVKrjg yrjpetov aKdvQr\g, 
Ith^ sysvovr 1 dvi\iov, Kutyrjg aXbg omrore noXXol 
"Aicpoi ETnirXetGiGt, rd fiev ndpog, dXXa d 1 dmaou. 
Id., Diosem., 189, seqq. 

370. At Boreae de parte trucis quum fulminat, et quum 
Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus ; omnia plenis, &c. 

Avrdp or* e| evpoio Kal ek vorov darpaTrr^aiv, 
"AXXors d' ek $erf>vpoio, Kal aXXors nap (3opeao, 
At) roTE rig nEXdysi kvi dsidiE vavriXog dvr\p, 
Mrj \iiv, rij p,EV EXXl TrsXayog, r-q d' ek Albg vdup. 
Id., Diosem., 201, seqq. 

aut ilium surgentem vallibus imis 
Aerriae fugere grues. 

Ovd* inpov yspdvuv fiaKpal orlxsg avrd K&XevBa 
Teivovrai • orpo<pddeg de iraXtinrerEg dnovEOvrai, 
Id., Diosem., 299, seqq. 



XXXIV GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Terse 

375. aut bucula caelum 

Suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras. 

Kai (56eg 7J67J rot ndpog vdarog evdioio, 
Ovpavdv elgavidovreg, an' aWipog ha§pr\aavTO. 

Id., Diosem., 222, seqq. 



377. Aut arguta lacus circumvolitavit hirundo. 

*H \i\iV7\v 7Tspi drjdd xeXtdoveg dtaaovrac 
Taarepi Tvitrovoai avrog EiXv\iivov vdcjp. 

Id., Diosem., 212, segr. 



378. Et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. 

*H fiaXXov deiXai yeveai, vdpotatv bvetap, 
AvtoOev e£ vSarog rrarepsg Qoodoi yvpivoyv. 

Id., Diosem., 214, seq. 



379. Saepius et tectis penetralibus extulit ova 
Angustum formica terens iter. 

Kai KoiXr\g fivpfiTjKeg 6%7/c e| c5ea iravra 
Qaaaov avTjveyicavTO. 

Id., Diosem., 224, seq. 



380. Et bibit ingens arcus. 

"H dtdvfir] e^uae dcd fieyav ovpavdv Ipig. 

Id., Diosem., 208. 



382. Corvorum increpuit densis exercitus alis. 

Kai ttov KopaKeg dtovg araXayfiovg 
$6)1/37 h\ii\ir\aavro avv vdarog ep%o[j,£voio. 
*H Trore Kai Kpugavre (3apeiq dtoo&KL <po)vy 
MaKpdv emppoi$evat nvaijdfievoi nrepd irvKvd. 

Id., Diosem., 234, seqq. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXXV 

Verse 

383. et quae Asia circum 

Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri. 

Twv d', cjctt' opviOov nerer\vCiV eOvea iroXXd, 
'Affto) ev Xeifitivt, Kavarptov d[i<pi psedpa, 
"IZvda nai evBa noroJvraL dyaXXdfieva irrepvyeaaiv. 
Horn., II., ii., 459, seqq. 



385. Certatim largos humeris infundere rores. 

HoXXdiu XifivaZat, rj elvdXiai bpvideg 
"AitXtjotov tcXv^ovrai eviip,evai vddreooLv. 

Aratus, Diosem., 210, seq. 



388. Turn cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce, 
Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena. 

• 
"H 770V mi Xanepv^a nap' rjiovi ixpovxovGXI 
Xeiparog apxofJtvov %e/>tfo> vneKvipe Kop&vq. 

Id., Diosem., 217, seq. 



390. Nee nocturna quidem carpentes pensa puellae 
Nescivere hiemem, testa quura ardente viderent 
Scintillare oleum, et putres concrescere fungos. 

*H Xv%voio fivKrjreg dyeipovrai nepl fivi-av, 
Nv/cra Kara gkqt'u]v • \ir\S' r\v vtto xeifiarog copy 
Avx v w dXXors [lev re (f>dog nana koo\lov opupq, 
"AXXore 6' dtooGXJtv and <pX6yeg, r\vre Kovcpai 
UofMpoXvyeg • ^776"' el kev enavrocpL \Lap\Lalptoaiv 
'AiCTlveg. 

Id., Diosem., 244, seqq. 



395. Nam neque turn stellis acies obtusa videtur. 

T Hjuoc 6 s ' ovpavodev nadapbv tpdog d\ibXvvr\rai, 
* * eni x Ei y La ^oKeve. 

Id., Diosem., 281. 



XXXVI GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

397. Tenuia nee lanae per coelum vellera ferri. 

HoXXdni d' epxofiEvoyv vtr&v vi<pea npondpoidev, 
Ola fidXtora ttokolglv eoinora IvddXXovrai. 

Id., Diosem., 206, seq. 



400. Immundi meminere sues jactare maniplos. 

ovde oveg (f)opv~(x) enifiapyaivovaat. 

Id., Diosem., 391. 



401. At nebulas magis ima petunt, campoque recumbunt. 

Et ye [iev Tjepoeaoa ndpe^ bpeoc pzyaXoio 
ILvdpeva reivrfai vecpeXr], dttpai de KoXdvac 
QaivcovTat KaOapal, fidXa tcev rod' vnevdiog efyg. 
~Evdtog it elr\g, nai, ore nXareog nepi ttovtov 
§aivr\Tai x^ a l ia ^l ve<peXi], [17)6' vxpoOi nvpq, 
'AAA' avrov t nXara\iHivi TxapaQXib7\rai dfiolr]. 

Id., Diosem., 256, seqq. 



410. Turn liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces 
Aut quater ingeminant. 

avrap eixeira fieradpoa KeKXrjyovreg, 
TLXeiorepot 6' ayeXrjddv enrjv koitoio {liduvTCu, 
$G)vrjg e^inXeioc, x a ^9 Elv K ^ ri S hicooLTo, 
Ola ra fiev (3o6(oac, Xiyaivofievoioiv bfxola. 

Id., Diosem., 272, seqq. 



428. Si nigrum obscuro comprenderit aera cornu 
Maximus agricolis pelagoque parabitur imber. 

"AXXofy (5' aXXo fieXaivopevq, do/teetv verolo. 

Id., Diose?n. t 72. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXXV11 



430. At si virgineum sufFuderit ore ruborem 

Ventus erit : vento semper rubet aurea Phoebe. 

ILdvra 6' epevBofievq, doKseiv avkpoio KeXevdovg. 

Id., Diosem., 71. 



438. Sol quoque, et exoriens, et quum se condet in undas, 
Signa dabit : solem certissima signa sequuntur, &c. 

'Hs/U'oto de rot iieXstg) kadrepdev lovrog ■ 
'He/Uo) Kal \idXXov koiKora orjiiara keZtcll 
'AfMporepov, dvvovri, Kal Ik nepdrrjg dviovn. 

Id., Diosem., 87, seqq. 



441 Ille ubi nascentem maculis variaverit ortum, &c. 

M77 ol ttoiklXXolto veov fidXXovrot; dpovpaiq 
KvicXog, 6V evdlov Kexprnievog r\\n,aroq etrjg. 

Id., Diosem., 90, seq. 



442. medioque refugerit orbe. 

'AA/L' ovx bnnoTe KolXog eetdofievog TrepcreXXij. 

Id., Diosem., 96. 



445. Aut ubi sub lucem, densa inter nubila, sese, 
Diversi rumpent radii. 

Ovd" ottot' dfcrlvwv, at fiev votov, at Se (3oprja 
2^^d/i£vat (3dXX(*)ai. 

Id., Diosem., 97, seq. 



450. Hoc etiam, emenso quum jam decedet Olympo, 
Profuerit meminisse magis. 

'Eo'Trepioig Kal fiaXXov dXrjOea TSKfirjpaco ' 
'~Eo7rEp6dev yap bptig Gr\\iaiverai kfifieveg alec. 

Id., Diosem., 158, seq. 
4 



XXXVlll GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

454. Sin maculae incipient rutilo immiscerier igni, 
Omnia turn pariter vento nimbisque videbis. 

Et tl nov rj Kai epevdog enirpex^, old re noXXa 
^XKOfievav vecpeiov epvOpaiverat dXXodev dXXa • 
1V H el nov fieXavei, Kai gov rd p,ev vdarog eoTO) 
^fjfiara fieXXovrog, rd 6' epevdea ndvr' dve\ioio. 
Ei'ye \iev dybfyorepoig aiivdig Kexpuop>evog elif, 
Kai ttev vdup (popeot, Kai vnr\ve\iiog ravvoiro. 

Id., Diosem., 102, seqq. 



458. At si quum referetque diem, condetque relatum, &c. 

Et 6* avroyg KaSapov p,tv e%oi (3ovXv<nog coprj, 
bvvoi 6' dve(peXog fiaXaKrjv vnodeieXog alyXr\v^ 
Kai [iev enepxo\ievr\g rjovg e#' vnevdtog el?]. 

Id., Diosem., 93, seqq. 



GEORGIC. II. 

Principio arboribus varia est natura creandis, &c 

Kl yeveaeig roJv devdpuv Kai oXog rcov <f)VTU)v, rj av~ 
rdfiarot, r) and onepfiarog, r) and pityg, rj and napa- 
onddog, rj and aKpepovog, rj and KXoyvbg, rj an' avrov 
rov areXsxovg eoriv, rj en rov %vXov KaraKonevrog 
elg \iiKpd ' Kai yap ovroyg dva^verai. 

Theophrast., Hist. Plant., ii., 1. 



12. ut molle siler, lentaeque genestae, 

Populus, et glauca. canentia fronde salicta. 

QiXel rovg e<j>vdpovg Kai kX&deig, olov alyeipog, Xev- 
Kr\, irea, Kai bXog rd napa rovg norafiovg (pvdfieva. 
Id., Hist. Plant, iv., 1. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. XXXIX 

Verse 

22. Sunt alii, quos ipse via sibi reperit usus. 

At 6e aXXai rexvrjg rj npoaipeo eojg. 

Id., Hist. Plant., ii., 1. 



42. Non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto ; 
Non, mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, 
Ferrea vox. 

HXtjOvv 6 y ovk dv eyo> \ivQi\ao\iai, ovd' dvofirjvo) • 
Ovd' el \ioi delta p,ev yXtiaoai, delta 6e Gr6\iar > elev, 
$<*)vrj <5' apprjKTog. 

Horn., II., ii., 488, seqa. 



57. Jam qua? seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos, &c. 

"Anavra de %etpw rd kit anepfjiarog wc encTTav • ev 6s 
rolg tjfiepotg, olov poa, ovttrj, dfineXog, duvydaXrj, nai 
yap bXa yevr\ fj,era6dXXet y k. t. X. 

Theophrast., Caus. Plant., 1. 



66. Herculeaeque arbos umbrosa coronas. 

Kpari 6* e%(dv Xevitav, 'HpaitXeog lepbv Ipvog. 

Theocrit., Idyll., ii., 122. 



105. Quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem, &c. 

'AAA' loog yap 6 p,6x6og, en' aovt KVfiara fierpelv, 
"Oca* avefiog xepoovde fierd yXavitag dXbg <bdel. 

Id., Idyll., xvi., 60, seq. 



116. Sola India nigrum fert ebenum. 

"ldiov 6i Kal r\ etevq Tr\g 'IvdiKrjg x^P a ^- 

Theophrast., Hist. Plant., iv., 1. 



Xl GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verso 

126. Media fert tristes succos tardumque saporem 
Felicis mali. 

'H 6e M.r\dia %wpa, Kal fj Tlepolg, aXka re exec rrXelo), 
Kal to fir/Xov to Mrjdircov, r\ HepaiKov KaXovfievov . 
Id., Hist. Plant., iv., 4. 

To 6e firjXov ovk kaBizTai \iev, evoojiov 6e ndvv, Kal 
avTO Kal to, (pvXXa tov devdpov • Kav elg IfiaTta teO'q 
to firjXov aKoixa diaTTjpel. 

Id., ibid. 



127. Quo non praesentius ullum 

Pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, &c. 

Xpfjoipov de eneiddv tvxq TremoKdjg Tig (frdpfiaKov. 

Id., ibid. 



131. faciemque similliraa lauro. 

"Exet- fi& to devdpov tovto (pvXXov fiev o\ioiov, Kal 
ax^dov laov, tgj T7\g dd<pvijg. 

Id., ibid. 



134. animas et olentia Medi 

Ora fovent illo. 

[XprjGifAov de] rrpbg GTo\iaTog evo)diav • eav yap Tig 
eififjaag ev tg> ^Ofiio, t\ ev aAAo) tivi, to ei-udev tov 
firjXov eKTTieaxj elg to OTop,a Kal KaTappo^>f\a^, -roiel 
tt\v dofirjv Tjdelav. 

Id., ibid. 



177. Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis ; quae robora cuique, 
&c. 

'Enel de Kal Ta edd(p7] fieydXag ex el & l< ¥t>°P<y>j XeKTe- 
ov Kal nepl tovtov . . . . ov KaKug drj tj diaipzoig tj 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. xli 

Verse 

npbg rd onepiiara Kal rd devdpa Xeyerai, tw rrjv fiev 
TTietpav, apeivG) oir6<f>opov, rrjv de Xeirrorepav, dev- 
dpo(pbpov elvai .... 77 aniXdg, Kal en \1aXX0v tj Xev- 
Koyeiog, eXaio(f>6poQ . . . . r) de Xeifiovia Kal efapftog 
dfineXo^opog. 

Id., Caus. Plant., ii. 



259. His aniraadversis, terrain multo ante memento, &c. 

Ael rovg re yvpovg npoopvrreiv etc iroXXtiv, fidXiora 
de eviavrco irpbrepov, bnojg r) yr) nai rjXioyd^ Kal % El - 
fiaodfi tcaO' e/carepav rrjv tjpav .... Kal rag deaeig 
tg)v <pvrevo[j,EVG)v rag avrdg dnodidoaoi, Kara, rd 
7rp6g6opa, Kal vona, Kal irpbg ew Kal dvofidg • cjg ovk 
dv padicog eveyKovroyv pera6oXr)v. 

Id., Caus. Plant., iii. 



298. Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta cadentem. 

Ael de Kal evnvovv elvai, Kal t:p6gr\Xov rb devdpov • 
dib ov KaKGjg ol ovro) pv6jj,i£ovreg, &ore npbg \ieor\\L- 
tpiav pXeneiv, Kaddnep ol rag ovKag, Kal rd aXXa, 
Kal \1dX10ra rrjv eXaiav. 

Id., Caus. Plant., iii. 



302. neve oleae silvestres insere truncos. 

XaXenurara de Kal dfineXct) Kal rolg dXXoig ovktj Kal 
eXaia. 

Id., Caus. Plant., iii. 



319. Optima vinetis satio, quum vere rubenti, &c. 

'Aet yap del tyvreveiv Kal aneipeiv elg bpydaav rr)v 

yr)v rovro de ev dvolv dpaiv ylverai \1dX10ra 

rolg ye devdpoig, eapi Kal (xeronvpu ■ Kad' dg Kal (f>v. 
4* 



Xlii GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

revovoi \t,dXkov, nal Kocvorepog ev tg> r\pi • rore yap 
r\ re yr\ divypog, nal 6 r\kiog depfiaivuv dyei, nal 6 
drjp fiaXaftog eon icai epocjdrjg • &or' e% andvrojv el- 
vac rr\v etcrpcxprjv nai rr\v evbXaoriav. 

Id., Caiis. Plant., iii. 



325. Turn pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus iEther 
Conjugis in gremium laetae descendit, et omnes, &c. 

'Epa p,ev ayvbg ovpavbg rpCjaac %#ova, 
"Epwc 6e yalav \aji6dvei yd[iov rvxelv. 
"Ofi6pog (5' art evvdevrog ovpavov rreacbv 
"Efcvae yalav • ?/ 6e riKrerai pporolg 
MtjXcov re (36cfcag real j3lov krjfirjrpLov ' 
AevSpojv rig upa 6" en vori^ovrog ydpov 
TeXecog eon • 

Msch., Fragm. Danaid. 



347. Sparge fimo pingui. 

*H 6e tconpog on fiev nai \iavol rrjv yr\v nal dtadep- 
\iaivei, 6V &v apxporepov rj evbXaaria, <j>avepov. 
Theophrast., Cans. Plant., iii. 



348. Aut lapidem bibulum, aut squalentes infode conchas. 

'YrroSaXXovoi Kara) Xidovg, onoyg ovpporj yeviyrai rov 
vdarog, nai ftepovg ovroi Kara^vxovoi, rag pi^ag ■ oi 
de KXr\\iari8ag vnorcdeaatv, ol 6e fcepafiov. 

Id., ibid. 



365. Carpend.ae manibus frondes. 

Td roiavra rovroyv 77 ralg %epolv dchaipelv, tigrrep 
eXexOri re, Kal KeXevovoiv, r\ rolg OLdrjpoig &g eXa. 
(pporara. 

Id., ibid. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. Xliii 

Veiie 

375. pascuntur oves avidaeque juvencae. 

XaXenai de Kai at e-KitoGKT\aeig, bri ovveniKaovoiv 
afxa rig ropy Kai dcpaipeaet. 

Id., Caus. Plant., v. 



431. taedas silva alta ministrat. 

KapTroQopovoiv at nevfcat Kai dadcxfropovai, • Kapno- 
<f)opovai uev yap evdvg viae, 6ado(popovat tie varepov 



noXXio 7Tpea6vrepai yivo\ievai. 



Id., Hist. Plant., ix., 2. 



GEORGIC. III. 
11. Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas. 

QeXyofievag <p6pp,tyyi Kariyyaye Hiepirjdev. 

Apoll. Rhod., i., 31. 

75. Continue- pecoris generosi pullus in arvis 
Altius ingreditur. 

Ovtg) de Kai eariv 6 fierecopi^ov eavrbv lirnog ocpodpa 
tj KaXbv, rj -&avp,aoTov, r\ dyaarbv, k. r. X. 

Xen., de Re Equest., xi., 9. 



76. et mollia crura reponit. 

vypolv de rolv OKeXoiv yavpitipevog (peperai. 

Id., ibid., x., 16. 



79. illi ardua cervix. 

'And ye ur\v tov orepvov 6 uev avxr]V avrov jjtj, cjc- 
nep Karrpov, TTpoTrerrjg ne<f)VKOi, aXX\ cjgnep aXeKrpv- 
6vog, opdbg npbg rr\v Kopvcpfjv t\koi. 

Id., ibid., i., 8. 



xliv 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 



Verse 

87. At duplex agitur per lumbos spina. 

'Oo<pi)g r\ dtirXri rrjg drtXrjg, icai k.yKaQr\adai paXaKifr- 
repa, nai Idelv rjdiojv. 

Id., ibid., i., 11. 



103. Nonne vides, quum praecipiti certamine campum, &c. 

"Apfiara 6' olXXote \lev xdovl ncXvaro TrovXvtoTEipij, 
"AXXote 6' alt-aofce fierrjopa • rot <5' eXarfjpeg 
"Earaaav ev dicppoiai * Trdraaae 6e dvp.bg kicdarov, 
Niitrjg lepevov • kekXovto Se oloiv Enaorog 
"lrnrotg, ol oe ttetovto Koviovrsg tteSloio. 

Horn., II., xxiii., 368, seqq. 



237. Fluctus uti medio coepit quum albescere vento, &c. 

,x £2c 6' or' ev aiyiaXix) ttoXvtjxel kvuo, ■&aXdo<J7]g 
"Opvvr* snaoovTEpov, Qcpvpov vnoKLvfjaavTog ■ 
Hovtg) psv rd TTpcJra KopvaasraL, avrdp etteitcl 
XEpao) p7]yvvp£vov fisydXa j3pspEL, dp<pl 6£ r' aitpag 
Kvprov hbv fcopv(povrai, dnonTVEL (?' dXdg dxvr\v. 
Horn., II., iv., 422, seqq. 



266. Scilicet ante omnes furor est insignis equarum. 

At fihv ovv LnTroi at dfiXEiai Imropavovaiv, oQev /tat 
sni r^v f3Xao(f)7jplav to bvopa avrdv £m(p£povGLV 
and \16vov twv £wg)v. 

Aristot., Hist. An., vi. 



277. DifFugiunt ; non, Eure, tuos, neque solis ad ortus, &c. 

Qeovgl 6e ovte npog eo), ovte irpbg dvopdg, dXXd rrpog 
aprcTov rj vorov. 

Id., ibid., vi. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. Xlv 

Verso 

357. Turn sol pallentes haud unquam discutit umbras, &c. 

ovde nor' avrovg 
'HeXioc; (paedcjv emdepKerat aKriveooiv, 
Ov6' ottot' av oreix^oi npbg ovpavbv darepoevra, 
Ovd' orav dip fact yalav an 1 ovpavoBev ixporpdv:r\rai. 

Horn., Od., xi., 15, seqq. 



414. Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum, &c. 

Nat fjLTjv nai ftapvodfiog enl (pXoyl \ioipr\Belaa 
XaX6dv7], aKvr\arl<; re. Kal 7] irpLoveoGi rofiatrj 
Ki6pog,7TovXv66ov(n Karatprjxdelaa yeveiotg, 
'Ev cpXoytzi KaixvT\kbv dyei Kal (pvt-ifiov 65\ir\v. 
Tolg drj xh? a \ ia ttoiXa Kal vXyupeag evvdg 
Keivuxjeig, dairedo) 6e neotiv vttvolo Kopeoarj. 

Nicand 7 ., Ther., 51, seqq. 



428. Qui, dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus, et dum, &c. 

"Of 6rj rot to nplv fiev enl (3pox6vdei Xifivq 
"Aoireiorov j3arpdxoiot <pepet kotov : dXX' orav vdcjp 
leipiog dtyvqai, rpvyq 6' evl 7Tvdfj,evi XifAVTjg, 
Kai rod 1 oy' ev %epfffc> reXedec ipa<papog re nai axpovg, 
QdXnuv tjeXlg) (iXoovpbv dep,ag • ev 6e KeXevdocg 
TXcjooxi noupvydrjv ve\ierai dciprjpeag oyfiovg. 

Id., ibid., 366, seqq. 



GEORGIC. IV. 

1. Protenus aerii raellis ccelestia dona. 

MeXt, de rb iriirrov e/c rov depoq, Kal fidXtara r&v 
darpcjv emroXalg, Kal orav KaraoKrjipxi ^eipiog. 

Arist., Hist. An., ix. 



Xlvi GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

13. Absint et picti squalentia terga lacerti, 

Pinguibus a stabulis, meropesque, aliaeque volucres, 
&c. 

'Adiicovoi 6e avrdg fxdXtara at re o$r\KEg, Kai ol al- 
yidaXoi KaXovfisva rd bpvea • etc 6s x^Xt6cbv Kai \ii- 
po\p. Qrjpevovac 6e Kai ol rsXfiartaloL (3drpaxoL npbg 
to v6o)p avrdg dnavTCjerag .... Ttivovoi 6' dv p,ev y 
7TOTafi.bg ttXtjglov ovdapodev aXXodsv rj evtevBev . . . 
(pvrevsiv 6e avfi<f)epet nspi rd OfirjVT] dxpd6ag, Kvd- 
fiovg, rroav M.7j6lkt]v, Ivplav, &%povg, \ivppivr\v, firjKG). 
va, EpiruXXov, duvy6aXrjv. 

Id.* ibid. 



39. fucoque et floribus oras 

Explent, collectumque haec ipsa ad munera gluten, 
&c. 

"Eon 6i nspi ttjv epyaaiav avrdv, Kai rbv (3iov, 
iroXXrj rcoLKiXLa. 'ETrejoav yap Trapadodrj avralg ica- 
Bapbv to afirjvog, olnodouovot Td Krjpia (pepovvai, tcjv 
te aXXov dvdeo)v, Kai d~b tljv devdpuv Td ddtcpva, 
ireag, Kai nreXsag, Kai aXXcov KoXXiodeoTarcov ■ tov. 
to) 6e Kai to edacpog 6iaxpiovai twv aXXvv -{hjpiov 

EVEKEV. 

Id., ibid., ix. 



49. Aut ubi odor coeni gravis. 

bvaxepaivovoL 6e, daixEp Eipi\Tai Talg dvoudsoiv 6<r- 
fiaig, Kai Talg tcjv fiipcjv. 

Id. t ibid., ix. 



54. et flumina lib ant 

Summa leves. 

Al 61 vdup (pEpovoiv slg Toi)g KV-rrdpovg, Kai \uyvv~ 

ovai tg> fjbiXiTt. 

Id., ibid., ix. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. xlvil 

Verse 

63. et cerinthae ignobile gramen. 

v E<7Tt 6e avralg Kal dXXrj rpocprj, r\v KaXovai rweg 
KTjpivdov ■ earc 6e rovro vnodeiorepov, Kal yXvKvrrj- 
ra ovKGjdr] s^ov Ko\ii^ovGi 6e rovro rolg OKeXeoi, 
tcaddnep rbv Kr\pov. Id., ibid. 

64. Tinnitusque cie. 

Aokovol 6e xo/ipeiv at \ieXirrai Kal r& Kporcd • did 
Kal Kporovvreg (paolv ddpol^eiv avrag elg rb G\ii\vog 
barpaKOig re Kal tpocboLg. Id., ibid. ' 



92. Nam duo sunt genera: hie melior, insignis et ore, &c. 

Etcrt 6e yevT] rdv fieXt,rriov irXelo), KaOdnep elpryrai 
rcporepov ■ 6vo fiev, r\ye\iov^v ■ 6 fiev (3eXrl(i)v, nvp- 
pog - * * * * * rj (5' dpiorr], fiiKpd, orpoyyvXrj Kal not- 
klXtj- dXXr], paKpd, b\ioia rij dvdprjvq. Id., ibid. 



96. Namque aliae turpes horrent, ceu, pulvere ab alto 
Cum venit, et sicco terram spuit ore viator 
Aridus. 

M776" o/c' an' avaXeoiv oroudruv Trrvofieg a-naoroi. 

Callim., H. in Cer., 6. 



158. Namque aliae victu invigilant, et fcedere pacto 

Exercentur agris : pars inter septa domorum, &c. 

F,iol (5' avralg reray\ievai ecf)' eKaarov riov epyuv 
.... Kal at fisv KTjpia epyd^ovrai, at 6e rb p,eXi, at 
($' epidaKTjv • Kal at uev nXdrrovoi KTjpta, at 6e vdcjp 
tpepovoiv elg rovg Kvrrdpovg, Kal \uyvvovai tw ueXi* 
re at d' err' epyov epxovrai .... Kal rovg C(f>T]Kag 
dixoKreivovai brav \17\Keri x^PV ^ T ^ . ... at [lev 
TTpeobvrepaL rd eloo) epydfyvrai, Kal daovrepac elai, 






Xlvill GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

did, to eloG) fievetv • al de veai e^udev cpepovoc, nai 
slot XeioTepai .... d(p' o>v de (pepovGiv, eart rdde, 
■&vfiov, drpaKTvXXlg, neXiXo)TOv, aocpodetog, fivppivT}, 
(pXecJg, ayvog, ondprov. 

Arist., Hist. An., ix., 40. 



184. Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus. 
Mane ruunt portis ; nusquam mora : rursus, easdem, 
&c. 

^OpBplai de gicjttgjolv, eog av fila eyeipxi (3oji6rjoaGa 
dig i] Tpig ' tots <T £7r' epyov ddpoat nerovraL ■ nai 
kXBovoai ndXiv, -&opv6ovGL to npCjTov ■ icaTa fiiKpov 
d' tjttov, ecjg av p.ia nepineTop,ev7] Po/idrjCQ, tjgnep 
or\\iaivovaa KaBevdeiv • etr' e^anivqg olojttgjgi. 

Id., ibid. 



191. Nee vero a stabulis pluvia impendente recedunt 

Longius, aut credunt coelo adventantibus Euris, &c. 

ILpoytvcoGKOVOL de icai ^et/^va nai vdop al fieXiTrai ■ 
orjuelov de, ovu dnoneTOVTai yap, dXX' ev tx\ evdia 
ai)TOv aveiXovvTai .... OTav d' avefiog r\ \ieyag, <f)i- 
povGi XiBov eft eavTalg, ep\ia npog to nvev\ia. 

Id., ibid. 



197. Ilium adeo placuisse apibus mirabeie morem, 

Quod nee concubitu indulgent, nee corpora segnes, 
&c. 

Uepl de T7jv yevEGtv t&v iieXittuv ov tov ovtov Tpo- 
ttov navTeg vnoXa\ibdvovoiv • ol /nev yap <paGiv ov 
tiktelv, ovd' ox^veGdat Tag jieXiTTag, dXXd (pepeiv 
tov yovov, Kal pepeiv ol p,ev and tov avBovg tov tcaX- 
XvvTpov, ol de and tov avdovg tov tcaXdfiov, aXXoi 
6s and tov avdovg TTjg kXaiag. Id., ibid. 



GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. xlix 

Verse 

210. Praeterea regem non sic JSgyptus, et ingens 

Lydia, nee populi Parthorum, aut Medus Hydaspes, 
&c. 

Ol de (3a<nXelg ov nsrovrai c|g), lav firj /xer' bXov rov 
EGfiov, ovr* errl (3ogktjv, ovr' aXXcog ■ (f>aoi tie rcai edv 
dnonXavTjdirj 6 dcpsofibg, dviyvsvovoag fieradelv, soyg 
dv evpojot rov rjyefiova ry oofiirj • Xsysrac 6e Kai </>e- 
peodat avrbv vnb rov eg/iov, orav Trereodai fiij dvvi\~ 
rai • Kai edv d"noXr\rai, d-noXXvoQai rov d<f>eo[j,6v. 

Id., ibid. 



231. Bis gravidos cogunt foetus, duo tempora messis, &c. 

T^f de rov fisXirog epyaoia dirroi tcaipoi eloiv, Zap 
Kai fjLETdncjpov, Kai rolg kt-aipovGi nspi rov fisXirog 
tote iidxpvrat \idXiGra' ai 6e rimrovoat dnoXXvv- 
rai, did rb fir) dvvaadai to Kivrpov &vev rov svrspov 
E^aLpslodat .... orav 6s rd Kr\pia Ei-atp&Giv ol fiE- 
Xirrovpyoi, dnoXEcnovaiv avralg rpocpfjv did #e^<jva. 

Id.y ibid. 



251. Si vero, quoniara casus apibus quoque nostros. 
Vita tulit, tristi languebunt corpora morbo, &c. 

Td 6e voGrjuara EiimiTTEi fidXiora slg rd EvOvvovvra 
rdv ojj,7]vtiv, 6 te KaXovfjLEvog KXr]pog • rovro yivsrai 

EV TG) EddcpEl OKG)XfjKia [ILKpd, «0' 0)V aV^OflEVOV, &o- 

TTEp dpd%via Kario%Ei rb o\i7\vog bXov, Kai orjnErai rd 
Kr\pia .... aXXo 6e voG7\\ia, olov dpyia rig yivsrai 
rav fjbEXirr&v Kai dvGdjdla rcjv g\lt\v£)v .... orav 6e 
KpifKjJvrat e£ dXXrjXoyv ev tw g\lt\vei, gt\\ieiov yivErai 
rovro on dnoXEiipEC dXXd Kara(f>voo)Oi rb apsr\vog 
olv(x> yXvKEt ol fisXirrovpyoi orav rovr* alodwrat. 

Id., ibid. 
5 



1 GREEK PASSAGES IMITATED. 

Verse 

255. Turn corpora luce carentum 

Exportant tectis, et tristia funera ducunt. 

'Edv 6e ecu rig anoddvq, e^dyovaiv dfioicjg. 

Id., ibid. 



259. Ignavaeque fame et contracto frigore pigrae. 

*AAAo 6e voarjfia olov dpyia rig ylverai rdv fieXir- 
t£)v. 

Id., ibid. 



***S***>^S***l*****>*SSS>*'**>**i**********A**^^ 



BUCOLICA ET GEORGICA. 



P. VIRGILII MARONIS 

B U C L I C A. 

ECLOGA I. 

TITYRUS. 

MELIBCEUS. TITYRUS. 
MELTBCEUS. 

Tityre, tu, patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi, 

Silvestrem tenui musam meditaris avena : 

Nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva ; 

Nos patriam fugimus : tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra, 

Forraosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas. 5 

TITYRUS. 

O Meliboee ! deus nobis baec otia fecit : 

Namque erit ille rnihi semper deus ; illius aram 

Saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. 

Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum 

Ludere, quae vellem, calamo permisit agresti. 10 

MELIBCEUS. 

Non equidem invideo ; miror magis : undique totis 
Usque adeo turbatur agris. En ! ipse capellas 
Protenus aeger ago ; hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco. 
Hie, inter densas corulos, modo namque gemellos, 
Spem gregis, ah ! silice in nuda, connixa reliquit. 15 

Saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset, 
De coelo tactas memini praedicere quercus. 
[Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice cornix.] 
Sed tamen, iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis. 

TITYRUS. 

Urbem quam dicunt Romam, Melibcee, putavi 20 

Stultus ego huic noetrae similem, quo saepe sol emus 

A 



li BUCOLICON ECL. I. 

Pastores ovium teneros depellere foetus : 

Sic canibus catulos similes, sic matribus haedos 

Noram ; sic parvis componere magna solebam. 

Verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes, 25 

Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi. 

MELIBCEUS. 

Et quae tanta fuit Romam tibi caussa videndi 1 

TITYRUS. 

Libertas : quae, sera, tamen respexit inertem, 

Candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat : 

Respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit, 30 

Postquam nos Amaryllis habet, Galatea reliquit. 

Namque, fatebor enim, dum me Galatea tenebat, 

Nee spes libertatis erat, nee cura peculi : 

Quamvis multa meis exiret victima septis, 

Pinguis et ingratae premeretur caseus urbi, 35 

Non unquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redibat. 

MELIBOEUS. 

Tiiirabar, quid moesta deos, Amarylli, vocares ; 

Cui pendere sua patereris in arbore poma : 

Tityrus hinc aberat. Ipsae te, Tityre, pinus, 

Ipsi te fontes, ipsa haec arbusta vocabant. 40 

TITYRUS. 

Quid facerem 1 neque servitio me exire licebat, 

Nee tam praesentes alibi cognoscere divos. 

Hie ilium vidi juvenem, Meliboee, quotannis 

Bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant. 

Hie mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti : 45 

Pascite, ut ante, boves, pueri ; submittite tauros. 

MELIBCEUS. 

Fortunate senex ! ergo tua rura manebunt, 

Et tibi magna satis ; quamvis lapis omnia nudus, 

Limosoque palus obducat pascua junco. 

Non insueta graves tentabunt pabula foetas, 50 

Nee mala vicini pecoris eontngia laedent. 



BUCOLICON ECL. I. 3 

Fortunate senex ! hie, inter flumina nota 

Et fontes sacros, frigus captabis opacum. 

Hinc tibi, quae semper, vicino ab limite, sepes 

Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti, 55 

Saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro ; 

Hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras : 

Nee tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes, 

Nee gemere aeria, cessabit turtur ab ulmo. 

TITYRUS. 

Ante leves ergo pascentur in aethere cervi, 60 

Et freta destituent nudos in littore pisces ; 

Ante, pcrerratis amborum finibus, exsul 

Aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim, 

Quam nostro illius labatur pectore vultus. 

MELIBCEUS. 

At nos hinc, alii sitientes ibimus Afros ; 65 

Pars Scythiam, et rapidum Cretae veniemus Oaxen, 

Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. 

En ! unquam patrios longo post tempore fines, 

Pauperis et tuguri congestum cespite culmen, 

Post aliquot, mea regna videns mirabor, aristas ] 70 

Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit ] 

Barbarus has segetes 1 en, quo discordia cives 

Perduxit miseros ! en, quis consevimus agros ! 

Insere nunc, Melibcee, piros, pone ordine vites. 

Ite, meae, felix quondam pecus, ite, capellae. 75 

Non ego vos posthac, viridi projectus in antro, 

Dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbo ; 

Caraiina nulla canam ; non, me pascente, capellae, 

Florentem cytisum et salices carpetis amaras. 

TITYRUS. 

Hie tamen hanc mecum poteras requiescere noctem 80 
Fronde super viridi : sunt nobis mitia poma, 
Castaneae molles, et pressi copia lactis ; 
Et jam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, 
Majoresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae. 



BUCOLICON ECL. II. 



ECLOGA II. 
ALEXIS. 
Formosum pastor Cory don ardebat Alexin, 
Delicias domini : nee, quid speraret, habebat. 
Tantum inter densas, umbrosa cacumina, fagos 
Assidue veniebat : ibi haec incondita solus 
Montibus et silvis studio jactabat inani : 5 

O crudelis Alexi ! nihil mea carmina curas ] 
Nil nostri miserere 1 mori me denique coges. 
Nunc etiam pecudes umbras et frigora captant ; 
Nunc virides etiam occultant spineta lacertos ; 
Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestu, 10 

Allia serpyllumque, herbas contundit olentes : 
At mecum raucis, tua dum vestigia lustro 
Sole sub ardenti, resonant, arbusta cicadis. 
Nonne fuit satius, tristes Amaryllidis iras 
Atque superba pati fastidia? nonne Menalcan 1 15 

Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses. 
O formose puer ! nimium ne crede colori : 
Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. 
Despectus tibi sum, nee, qui sim, quaeris, Alexi ; 
Quam dives pecoris, nivei quam lactis abundans. 20 

Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnae : 
Lac mihi non aestate novum, non frigore dent : 
Canto, quae solitus, si quando armenta vocabat, 
Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracyntho. 
Nee sum adeo informis ; nuper me in littore vidi, 25 

Cum placidum ventis staret mare : non ego Daphnin, 
Judice te, metuam ; si nunquam fallit imago. 
O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura 
Atque humiles habitare casas, et figere cervos, 
Haedorumque gregem viridi compellere hibisco ! 30 

Mecum una in silvis imitabere Pana canendo. 



1IUCOLICON ECL. II. 5 

Pan primus calamos cera conjungere plures 
Instituit ; Pan carat oves oviumque magistros. 
Nee te poeniteat calamo trivisse labellum : 
Hasc eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas 1 35 
Est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis 
Fistula, Damcetas dono mihi quam dedit olim, 
Et dixit, moriens, Te nunc habet ista secundum. 
Dixit Damcetas : invidit stultus Amyntas. 
Praeterea duo, nee tuta mihi valle reperti, 40 

Capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo, 
Bina die siccant ovis ubera ; quos tibi servo. 
Jam pridem a me illos abducere Thestylis orat ; 
Et faciet, quoniam sordent tibi munera nostra. 
Hue ades, O formose puer ! tibi lilia plenis, 45 

Ecce ! ferunt Nymphae calathis ; tibi Candida Nai's, 
Pallentes violas et summa papavera carpens, 
Narcissum et florem jungit bene olentis anethi : 
Turn, casia atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis, 
Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia caltha. 50 

Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala, 
Castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat : 
Addam cerea pruna; honos erit huic quoque pomo: 
Et vos, O lauri ! carpam, et te, proxima myrte ; 
Sic positse quoniam suaves miscetis odores. 55 

Rusticus es, Cory don ; nee munera curat Alexis ; 
Nee, si muneribus certes, concedat Iollas. 
Heu ! heu ! quid volui misero mihi ! floribus austmm 
Perditus, et liquidis immisi fontibus apros. 
Quern fugis, ah, demens "? habitarunt di quoque silvas, 60 
Dardaniusque Paris. Pallas, quas condidit arces 
Ipsa colat : nobis placeant ante omnia silvae. 
Torva leasna lupum sequitur ; lupus ipse capellam ; 
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella ; 
Te Cory don, O Alexi ! trahit sua quemque voluptas. 65 
Adspice, aratra jugo referunt suspensa juvenci, 
A 2 



6 BUCOLICON ECL. II. 

Et sol crescentes decedens duplicat umbras : 

Me tamen urit amor ; quis enim modus adsit amori ] 

Ah, Corydon ! Cory don ! quae te dementia cepit ! 

Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est. 70 

Quin tu aliquid saltern potius, quorum indiget usus, 

Viminibus mollique paras detexere junco 1 

Invenies* alium, si te hie fastidit, Alexin. 



BUCOLICON ECL. III. 7 

EC LOG A III. 

PALJ2MON. 

MENALCAS. DAMGETAS. PAL.EMON. 
MENALCAS. 

Die mihi, Damoeta, cujum pecus 1 an Meliboei? 

DAMOETAS. 

Non ; verum iEgonis : nuper mihi tradidit JEgon. 

MENALCAS. 

Infelix, O, semper, oves, pecus ! ipse Neaeram 

Dum fovot, ac, ne me sibi praeferat ilia, veretur, 

Hie alienus oves custos bis mulget in hora ; 5 

Et succus pecori, et lac subducitur agnis. 

DAMOETAS. 

Parcius ista viris tamen objicienda memento. 
Novimus et qui te, transversa tuentibus hircis, 
Et quo, sed faciles Nymphas risere, sacello. 

MENALCAS. 

Tunc, credo, quum me arbustum videre Miconis, 10 

Atque mala vites incidere falce novellas. 

DAMOETAS. 

Aut hie, ad veteres fagos, quum Daphnidis arcum 

Fregisti et calamos : quae tu, perverse Menalca, 

Et, quum vidisti puero donata, dolebas ; 

Et, si non aliqua. nocuisses, mortuus esses. 15 

MENALCAS. 

Quid domini faciant, audent quum talia fures ! 

Non ego te vidi Damonis, pessime, caprum 

Excipere insidiis, multum latrante Lycisca? 

Et, quum clamarem, Quo nunc se proripit ille 1 

Tityre, coge pecus ; tu post carecta latebas. 20 

DAMOETAS. 

An mihi, cantando victus, non redderet ille, 



S BUCOLICON ECL. III. 

Quern mea carminibus meruisset fistula caprum ? 
Si nescis, meus ille caper fuit ; et mihi Damon 
Ipse fatebatur, sed reddere posse negabat. 

MENALCAS. 

Cantando tu ilium ] aut unquam tibi fistula cera 25 

Juncta fuit? non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas 
Stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen 1 

DAMOZTAS. 

Vis ergo, inter nos, quid possit uterque, vicissim 
Experiamur'? ego hanc vitulam (ne forte recuses, 
Bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere foetus) 30 

Depono : tu die, mecum quo pignore certes. 

MENALCAS. 

De grege non ausim quidquam deponere tecum : 

Est mihi namque domi pater, est injusta noverca ; 

Bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et heedos. 

Verum, id quod multo tute ipse fatebere majus, 35 

Insanire libet quoniam tibi, pocula ponam 

Fagina, caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis : 

Lenta quibus tomo facili superaddita vitis 

DifFusos hedera vestit pallente corymbos. 

In medio duo sign a : Conon, et — quis fuit alter, 40 

Descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem, 

Tempora qua? messor, quae curvus arator haberet ? 

Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. 

DAMCETAS. 

Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, 

Et molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho ; 45 

Orpheaque in medio posuit, silvasque sequent es. 

Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. 

Si ad vitulam spectas, nihil est, quod pocula laudes. 

MENALCAS. 

Nunquam hodie eflugies : veniam, quocumque vocaris. 
Audiat haec tantum vel qui venit, — ecce ! Palaemon. 50 
Einciam, posthac ne'quemquam voce lacessas. 



BUCOLICON ECL. III. 9 

DAMC3TAS. 

Quin age, siquid liabes ; in me mora non erit ulla, 
Nee quemquam fugio : tantum, vicine Palaemon, 
Sensibus haec imis, res est non parva, reponas. 

PAL^EMON. 

Dicite : quandoquidem in molli consedimus herba. 55 
Et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, 
Nunc frondent silvae, nunc formosissimus annus. 
Incipe, Damceta ; tu deinde sequere, Menalca. 
Alternis dicetis ; amant alterna Camoehae. 

DAMOZTAS. 

Ab Jove principium, Musae : Jovis omnia plena : 60 

Ille colit terras ; illi mea carmina curse. 

MENALCAS. 

Et me Phoebus amat : Phoebo sua semper apud me 

Munera sunt, lauri, et suave rubens hyacinthus. 

» 

DAMC3TAS. 

Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, 

Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri. 65 

MENALCAS. 

At mihi sese offert ultro meus ignis, Amyntas, 
Notior ut jam sit canibus non Delia nostris. 

DATVKETAS. 

Parta meae Veneri sunt munera ; namque notavi 
Ipse locum, aeriae quo congessere palumbes. 

MENALCAS. 

Quod potui, puero, silvestri ex arbore lecta, 70 

Aurea mala decern misi ; eras altera mittam. 

DAMOSTAS. 

O quoties, et quae nobis Galatea locuta est ! 
Partem aliquam, venti, divum referatis ad aures ! 

MENALCAS. 

Quid prodest, quod me ipse animo non spernis, Amynta, 
Si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo 1 75 



10 BUCOLICON ECL. III. 

DAM (ETAS. 

Phyllida mitte mihi ; meus est natalis, Iolla : 
Cum faciam vitula pro frugibus, ipse venito. 

MENALCAS. 

Phyllida amo ante alias : nam me discedere flevit, 
Et, Longum, formose, vale, vale, inquit, Iolla. 

DAMCETAS. 

Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres, 80 

Arboribus venti, nobis Amaryllidis irae. 

MENALCAS. 

Dulce satis humor, depulsis arbutus hsedis, 
Lenta salix foeto pecori, mihi solus Amyntas. 

DAMCETAS. 

Pollio am at nostram, quamvis est rustica, musam : 
Pierides, vitulam lectori pascite vestro. 85 

MENALCAS. 

Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina : pascite taurum, 
Jam cornu petat, et pedibus qui spargat arenam. 

DAMOETAS. 

Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat quo te quoque gaudet ; 
Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. 

MENALCAS. 

Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi ; 90 

Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos. 

DAMCETAS. 

Qui legitis flores et humi nascentia fraga, 

Frigidus, O pueri ! fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba. 

MENALCAS. 

Parcite, oves, nimium procedere ; non bene ripae 
Creditur : ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat. 95 

DAMCETAS. 

Tityre, pascentes a flumine reice capellas : 
Ipse, ubi tempus erit, omnes in fonte lavabo. 



BUCOLICON ECL. III. 11 

MENALCAS. 

Cogite oves, pueri : si lac praeceperit aestus, 
Ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis. 

DAMOETAS. 

Heu ! heu ! quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo ! 
Idem amor exitium pecori, pecorisque magistro. 101 

MENALCAS. 

His certe neque amor caussa est ; vix ossibus haerent. 
Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. 

DAMOETAS. 

Die, quibus in terris, et eris mihi magnus Apollo, 

Tres pateat cceli spatium non amplius ulnas. 105 

MENALCAS. 

Die, quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum 
Nascantur flores ; et Phyllida solus habeto. 

PALJ2MON. 

Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites : 
Et vitula. tu dignus, et hie ; et quisquis amaros 
Aut metuet, dulces aut experietur amores. 110 



12 BL'COLICOX ECL. IV 



ECLOGA IV. 

POLLIO. 
Sicelides Musae, paullo majora canamus! 
Non omnes arbusta juvant humilesque myricae : 
Si canimus silvas, silvae sint consule dignae. 
Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas ; 
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. 5 

Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna ; 
Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto. 
Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum 
Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo, 
Casta, fave, Lucina : tuus jam regnat Apollo. 10 

Teque adeo decus hoc aevi, te consule, inibit, 
Pollio, et incipient magni procedere menses. 
Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri, 
Irrita perpetua. solvent formidine terras. 
Tile deum vitam accipiet, divisque videbit 15 

Permixtos hero as, et ipse videbitur illis ; 
Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem. 
At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu, 
Errantes hederas passim cum baccare tellus, 
Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho. 20 

Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae 
Ubera, nee magnos metuent armenta leones. 
Ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores. 
Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni 
Occidet ; Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum. 25 

At simul heroum laudes et facta parentis 
Jam legere, et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus, 
Molli paullatim flavescet campus arista, 
Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, 
Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella. 30 

Pauca tamen suberunt piiscEe vestigia fraudis, 



BUCOLICON ECL. IV. 13 

Quae tentare Jhetim ratibus, quae cingere muris 
Oppida, quae jubeant telluri infindere sulcos. 
Alter erit turn Tiphys, et altera quae vehat Argo 
Delectos heroas ; erunt etiam altera bella, 35 

Atque iterum ad Trojam magnus mittetur Achilles. 
Hinc, ubi jam firraata virum te fecerit aetas, 
Cedet et ipse mari \ector, nee nautica pinus 
Mutabit merces : omnis feret omnia tellus. 
Non rastros patietur humus, non vinea falcem ; 40 

Robustus quoque jam tauris juga solvet arator. 
Nee varios discet mentiri lana colores : 
Ipse sed in pratis aries jam suave rubenti 
Murice, jam croceo mutabit vellera luto ; 
Sponte sua sandyx pascentes vestiet agnos. 4«5 

Talia saecla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis 
Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae. 
Aggredere O magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores, 
Cara deum suboles, magnum Jovis incrementum ! 
Adspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum, 50 

Terrasque, tractusque maris, coelumque profundum, 
Adspice, venturo laetentur ut omnia saeclo ! 
O mini tarn longae maneat pars ultima vitae, 
Spiritus et, quantum sat erit tua dicere facta : 
Non me carmmibus vincet nee Thracius Orpheus, 55 
Nee Linus ; huic mater quamvis, atque huic pater, adsit, 
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo. 
Pan etiam, Arcadia mecum si judice certet, 
Pan etiam Arcadia dicat se judice victum. 
Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem : 60 

Matri longa decern tulerunt fastidia menses. 
Incipe, parve puer : cui non risere parentes, 
Nee deus hunc mensa, dea nee dignata cubili est. 

B 



14 BUCOLICON ECL. V. 

E C L O G A V. 

DAPHNIS. 

MENALCAS. MOPSUS. 
MENALCAS. 

Cur non, Mopse, boni quoniara convenimus ambo, 
Tu calamos inflare leves, ego dicere versus, 
Hie corulis mixtas inter considimus ulraos 1 

MOPSUS. 

Tu major; tibi me est asquum parere, Menalca; 
Sive sub incertas Zephyris motantibus umbras, 5 

Sive antro potius succedimus : adspice, ut antrum 
Silvestris raris sparsit labrusca racemis. 

MENALCAS. 

Montibus in nostris solus tibi certat Amyntas. 

MOPSUS. 

Quid, si idem certet Phcebum superare canendo 1 

MENALCAS. 

Incipe, Mopse, prior : si quos aut Phyllidis ignes, 10 
Aut Alconis habes laudes, aut jurgia Codri : 
Incipe ; pascentes servabit Tityrus haedos. 

MOPSUS. 

Immo haec, in viridi nuper quae cortice fagi 
Carmina descripsi, et modulans alterna notavi, 
Experiar : tu deinde jubeto certet Amyntas. 15 

MENALCAS. 

Lenta salix quantum pallenti cedit olivae, 
Puniceis humilis quantum saliunca rosetis ; 
Judicio nostro tantum tibi cedit Amyntas. 

MOPSUS. 

Sed tu desine plura, puer ; successimus antro. 

Exstinctum nymphee crudeli funere Daphnin 20 



BUCOLICON ECL. V. 15 

Flebatnt : vos, coruli, testes, et flumina, nymphis : 

Quum, complexa sui corpus miserabile gnati, 

Atque deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater. 

Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus 

Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina ; nulla nee amnem 25 

Libavit quadrupes, nee graminis attigit herbam. 

Daphni, tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones 

Interitum, montesque feri silvaeque loquuntur. 

Daphnis et Armenias curru subjungere tigres 

Instituit ; Daphnis thiasos inducere Bacchi, 30 

Et foliis lentas intexere mollibus hastas. 

Vitis ut arboribus decori est, ut vitibus uvae, 

Ut gregibus tauri, segetes ut pinguibus arvis ; 

Tu decus omne tuis. Postquam te fata tulerunt, 

Ipsa Pales agros, atque ipse reliquit Apollo. 35 

G-randia saepe quibus mandavimus hordea sulcis, 

Infelix lolium et steriles nascuntur avenae ; 

Pro molli viola, pro purpureo narcisso, 

Carduus, et spinis surgit paliurus acutis. 

Spargite humum foliis, inducite fontibus umbras, 40 

Pastores : mandat fieri sibi talia'Daphnis. 

Et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen : 

" Daphnis ego in silvis, hinc usque ad sidera notus, 

Formosi pecoris custos, formosior ipse." 

MENALCAS. 

Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, 45 

Quale sopor fessis in gramme ; quale, per aestum, 

Dulcis aquas saliente sitim restinguere rivo : 

Nee calamis solum aequiparas, sed voce, magistrum. 

Fortunate puer, tu nunc eris alter ab illo. 

Nos tamen hasc, quocumque modo, tibi nostra vicissim 

Dicemus, Daphninque tuum tollemus ad astra; 51 

Daphnin ad astra feremus : amavit nos quoque Daphnis. 

MOPSUS. 

An quidquam nobis tali sit munere majus 1 



16 BUC0L1C0N ECL. V. 

Et puer ipse fuit cantari dignus, et ista 

Jam pridem Stimicon laudavit carmina nobis. 55 

MENALCAS. 

Candidus insuetum miratur limen Olympi, 

Sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis. 

Ergo alacris silvas et cetera rura voluptas 

Panaque pastoresque tenet, Dryadasque puellas ; 

Nee lupus insidias pecori, nee retia cervis 60 

Ulla dolum meditantur : amat bonus otia Daphnis. 

Ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera jactant 

Intonsi montes ; ipsas jam carmina rupes, 

Ipsa sonant arbusta : Deus, deus ille, Menalca ! 

Sis bonus O, felixque, tuis ! en quatuor aras ! 65 

Ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duas altaria Phcebo ! 

Pocula bina novo spumantia lacte quotannis, 

Craterasque duo statuam tibi pinguis olivi ; 

Et, multo in primis hilar ans convivia Baccho, 

Ante focum, si frigus erit, si messis, in umbra, 70 

Vina novum fundam calathis Ariusia nectar : 

Cantabunt mihi Damcetas et Lyctius iEgon ; 

Saltantes Satyros imitabirur Alphesibceus. 

Haec tibi semper erunt, et quum sollemnia vota 

Reddemus nymphis, et quum lustrabimus agros. 15 

Dura juga montis aper, nuvios dum piscis aniabit, 

Dumque thymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicadas ; 

Semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt. 

Ut Baccho Cererique, tibi sic vota quotannis 

Agricolae facient : damnabis tu quoque votis. 80 

MOPSUS. 

Quae tibi, quas tali reddam pro carmine dona ! 
Nam neque me tantum venientis sibilus austri, 
Nee percussa juvant fluctu tarn littora, nee quas 
Saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles. 

MENALCAS. 

Hac te nos fragili donabimus ante cicuta : 



BUCOLICON ECL. V. 17 

Haec nos, Formosum Corydon ardebat Alexin : 
Haec eadem docuit, Cujum pecus 1 an Meliboei 1 

MOPSUS. 

At tu sume pedum, quod, me quum saepe rogaret, 
Non tulit Antigenes (et erat turn dignus amari), 
Formosum paribus nodis atque aire, Menalca. 00 

B2 



18 BUCOLICON ECL. VI. 



ECLOGA VI. 

SILENUS. 
Prima Syracusio dignata est ludere versu 
Nostra, neque erubuit silvas habitare, Thalia. 
Q,uum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem 
Vellit, et admonuit : Pastorem, Tityre, pingues 
Pascere oportet oves, deductum dicere carmen. 5 

Nunc ego (namque super tibi erunt, qui -dicere laudes, 
Vare, tuas cupiant, et tristia condere bella) 
Agrestem tenui meditabor arundine musam. 
Non injussa cano. Si quis tamen haec quoque, si quis, 
Captus amore, leget ; te nostras, Vare, myricae, 10 

Te nemus omne canet : nee Phcebo gratior ulla est 
Q,uam sibi quae Vari praescripsit pagina nomen. 

Pergite, Pierides. Chromis et Mnasylus in antro 
Silenum pueri somno videre jacentem, 
Inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, Iaccbo. 15 

Serta procul, tantum capiti delapsa, jacebant ; 
•Et gravis attrita. pendebat cantharus ansa.. 
Aggressi (nam saepe senex spe carminis ambo 
Luserat) injiciunt ipsis ex vincula sertis. 
Addit se sociam, timidisque supervenit iEgle ; 20 

iEgle, Naiadum pulcherrima; jamque videnti 
Sanguineis frontem moris et tempora pingit. 
Ille dolum ridens, Quo vincula nectitis 1 inquit : 
Solvite me, pueri ; satis est potuisse videri. 
Carmina, quas vultis, cognoscite ; carmina vobis, 25 

Huic aliud mercedis erit. Simul incipit ipse. 
Turn vero in numerum Faunosque ferasque videres 
Ludere, turn rigidas motare cacumina quercus ; 
Nee tantum Phoebo gaudet Parnasia rupes, 
Nee tantum Rhodope miratur et Ismarus Orphea. 30 

Namque canebat, uti magnum per inane coacta 



BUCOLICON ECL. VT. 19 

Semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent, 

Et liquidi simul ignis ; ut his exordia primis 

Omnia, et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis ; 

Turn durare solum, et discludere Nerea ponto 35 

Cceperit, et rerum paullatim sumere formas j 

Jamque novum terrge stupeant lucescere solem, 

Altius atque cadant submotis nubibus imbres ; 

Incipiant silvae quum primum surgere, quumque 

Rara per ignaros errent animalia montes. 40 

Hinc lapides Pyrrhae jactos, Saturnia regna, 

Caucasiasque refert volucres, furtumque Promethei. 

His adjungit, Hylan nautae quo fonte relictum 

Clamassent, ut littus, Hyla ! Hyla ! omne sonaret; 

Et fortunatam, si nunquam armenta fuissent, 45 

Pasiphaen nivei solatur amore juvenci. 

Ah virgo infelix ! quae te dementia cepit 1 

Proetides implerunt falsis mugitibus agros : 

At non tam turpes pecudum tamen ulla secuta est 

Concubitus, quamvis collo timuisset aratrum, 50 

Et saepe in levi quaesisset cornua fronte. 

Ah virgo infelix ! tu nunc in montibus erras : 

Ille, latus niveum molli fultus hyacintho, 

Ilice sub nigra, pallentes ruminat herbas ; 

Aut aliquam in magno sequitur grege. Claudite, Nymphae, 

Dictaeae Nymphae, nemorum jam claudite saltus, 56 

Si qua forte ferant oculis sese obvia nostris 

Errabunda bovis vestigia ; forsitan ilium, 

Aut herba captum viridi, aut armenta secutum, 

Perducant aliquae stabula ad Gortynia vaccae. 60 

Turn canit Hesperidum miratam mala puellam. 

Turn Phaethontiadas musco circumdat amarae 

Corticis, atque solo proceras erigit alnos. 

Turn canit, errantem Permessi ad flumina Galium 

Aonas in montes ut duxerit una sororum ; 65 

Utque viro Phcebi chorus assurrexerit omnis : 



20 BUCOLICON ECL. VI. 

Ut Linus heec illi, divino carmine pastor, 

Floribus atque apio crines ornatus amaro, 

Dixerit : Hos tibi dant calamos, en ! accipe, Musse 

Ascraeo quos ante seni ; quibus ille solebat 70 

Cantando rigidas deducere montibus ornos : 

His tibi Grynei nemoris dicatur origo ; 

Ne quis sit lucus, quo se plus jactet Apollo. 

Quid loquar, ut Scyllam Nisi, aut quain fama secuta est, 

Candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris, 75 

Dulichias vexasse rates, et gurgite in alto 

Ah ! timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis ; 

Aut, ut mutatos Terei narraverit artus : 

Quas illi Philomela dapes, quae dona pararit ; 

Quo cursu deserta petiverit, et quibus ante 80 

Infelix sua tecta supervolitaverit alis ] 

Omnia quae, Phoebo quondam meditante, beatus 

Audiit Eurotas, jussitque ediscere lauros, 

Ille canit ; pulsae referunt ad sidera valles : 

Cogere donee oves stabulis, numerumque referre 85 

Jussit, et invito processit, Vesper, Olympo. 



BUCOLICON ECL. Vfl. 21 



EC LOG A VII. 

MELIBCEUS. 

MELIBCEUS. CORYDON. THYRSIS. 
MELIBCEUS. 

Forte sub arguta consederat ilice Daphnis, 

Compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis in unura, 

Thyrsis oves, Corydon distentas lacte capellas ; 

Ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo, 

Et cantare pares, et respondere parati. 5 

Hue mihi, dum teneras defendo a frigore myrtos, 

Vir gregis ipse caper deerraverat ; atque ego Daphnin 

Adspicio : ille, ubi me contra videt, Ocius, inquit, 

Hue ades, O Melibcee ! caper tibi salvus, et haedi : 

Et, si quid cessare potes, requiesce sub umbra. 10 

Hue ipsi potum venient per prata juvenci : 

Hie virides tenera. praetexit arundine ripas 

Mincius, eque sacra resonant examina quercu. 

Quid facerem] neque ego Alcippen, neque Phyllida, ha- 

bebam, 
Depulsos a lacte domi quae clauderet agnos ; 15 

Et certamen erat, Corydon cum Thyrside, magnum : 
Posthabui tamen illorum mea seria ludo. 
Alternis igitur contendere versibus ambo 
CcEpere : alternos Musae meminisse volebant. 
Hos Corydon, illos referebat in ordine Thyrsis. 20 

CORYDON. 

Nymphae, noster amor, Libethrides, aut mihi carmen, 
Quale meo Codro, concedite ; proxima Phcebi 
Versibus ille facit ; aut, si non possumus omnes, 
Hie arguta sacra, pendebit fistula pinu. 

THYRSIS. 

Pastores, hedera crescentem ornate poetam, 25 



22 BUCOLICON ECL. VII. 

Arcades, invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro : 
Aut, si ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem 
Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua future 

CORYDON. 

Saetosi caput hoc apri tibi, Delia, parvus 

Et ramosa Micon vivacis cornua cervi. 30 

Si proprium hoc fuerit, levi de raarmore tota 

Puniceo stabis suras evincta cothurno. 

THYRSIS. 

Sinum lactis, et haec te liba, Priape, quotannis 
Exspectare sat est : custos es pauperis horti. 
Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus ; at tu, 35 
Si fetura gregem suppleverit, aureus esto. 

CORYDON. 

Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Hyblge, 

Candidior eyenis, hedera formosior alba, 

Quum primum pasti repetent praesepia tauri, 

Si qua tui Corydonis habet te cura, venito. 40 

THYRSIS. 

Imrao ego Sardoniis videar tibi amarior herbis, 
Horridior rusco, projecta vilior alga. ; 
Si mihi non haec lux toto jam longior anno est. 
Ite domum, pasti, si quis pudor, ite, juvenci. 

CORYDON. 

Muscosi fontes, et somno mollior herba, 45 

Et quae vos rara viridis tegit arbutus umbra, 
Solstitium pecori defendite : jam venit aestas 
Torrida ; jam laeto turgent in palmite gemmae. 

THYRSIS. 

Hie focus, et taedae pingues, hie plurimus ignis 
Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri : 50 

Hie tantum Boreae curamus frigora, quantum 
Aut numerum lupus, aut torrentia flumina ripas. 



BUCOLICON ECL. VII. *Z6 

CORYDON. 

Stant et juniperi, et castaneae hirsutae , 
Strata jacent passim sua quaque sub arbore poma ; 
Omnia nunc rident : at, si formosus Alexis 55 

Montibus his abeat, videas et flumina sicca. 

THYRSIS. 

Aret ager ; vitio moriens sitit aeris herba ; 

Liber pampineas invidit collibus umbras : 

Phyllidis adventu nostrae nemus omne virebit, 

Jupiter et laeto descendet plurimus imbri. 60 

CORYDON. 

Populus Alcidae gratissima, vitis Iaccho, 
Formosae myrtus Veneri, sua laurea Phcebo : 
Phyllis amat corulos : ill as dum Phyllis amabit, 
Nee myrtus vincet corulos, nee laurea Phcebi. 

THYRSIS. 

Fraxinus in silvis pulcherrima, pinus in hortis, 65 

Populus in fluviis, abies in montibus altis 
Saepius at si me, Lycida formose, revisas, 
Fraxinus in silvis cedat tibi, pinus in hortis. 

MELIBCEUS. 

Haec memini, et victum frustra contendere Thyrsin. 

Ex illo, Corydon, Corydon est, tempore, nobis. 70 



24 hucolicox ftcL. vnr. 



ECLOGA VIII. 

PHARMACEUTRIA. 

DAMON. ALPHESIBCEUS. 

Pastorum musam Damonis et Alphesibcei, 

Immemor herbarum quos est mirata juvenca 

Certantes, quorum stupefactae carmine lynces, 

Et mutata suos requierunt flumina cursus ; 

Damonis musam dicemus et Alphesiboei. 5 

Tu mihi seu magni superas jam saxa Timavi, 
Sive oram Illytici legis aequoris ; en ! erit unquam 
Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta ? 
En ! erit, ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem 
Sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna cothurno ] 10 

A te principium ; tibi desinet : accipe jussis 
Carmina coepta tuis, atque hanc sine tempora circum 
Inter victrices hederam tibi serpere lauros. 

Frigida vix coelo noctis decesserat umbra, 
Cum ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba; 15 

Incumbens tereti Damon sic ccepit olivae : 

DAMON. 

Nascere, praeque diem veniens age, Lucifer almum ; 
Conjugis indigno Nisae deceptus am ore 
Dum queror, et divos, quamquam nil testibus illis 
Profeci, extrema, moriens, tamen alloquor hora. 20 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 
Maenalus argutumque nemus pinosque loquentes 
Semper habet ; semper pastorum ille audit amores, 
Panaque, qui primus calamos non passus inertes. 
Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 25 

Mopso Nisa datur : quid non speremus amantes ? 
Jungentur jam gryphes equis ; aevoque sequenti 
Cum canibus timidi venient ad pocula damae. 



BUCOLICON ECL. VIII. 25 

Mopse, novas incide faces : tibi ducitur uxor. 

Sparge, marite, nuces : tibi deserit Hesperus GEtam. 30 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 

O digno conjuncta viro ! dum despicis omnes, 

Dumque tibi est odio mea fistula, dumque capellae, 

Hirsutumque supercilium, promissaque barba ; 

Nee curare deum credis mortalia quemquam. 35 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 

Sepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala, 

Dux ego vester eram, vidi cum matre legentem : 

Alter ab undecimo turn me jam acceperat annus ; 

Jam fragiles poteram ab terra contingere ramos. 40 

Ut vidi, ut perii ! ut me malus abstulit erroV ! 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 

Nunc scio, quid sit Amor : duris in cotibus ilium 

Aut Tmaros, aut Rhodope, aut extremi Garamantes, 

Nee generis nostri puerum, nee sanguinis edunt. 45 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 

Saevus Amor docuit natorum sanguine matrem 

Commaculare manus : crudelis tu quoque, mater : 

Crudelis mater magis, an puer improbus ille % 

Improbus ille puer : crudelis tu quoque, mater. 50 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 

Nunc et oves ultro fugiat lupus ; aurea durae 

Mala ferant quercus ; narcisso floreat alnus ; 

Pinguia corticibus sudent electra myricae ; 

Certent et eyenis ululae ; sit Tityrus Orpheus, 55 

Orpheus in silvis, inter delphinas Arion. 

Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. 

Omnia vel medium fiant mare. Vivite, silvae I 

Praeceps aerii specula de montis in undas 

Deferar ; extremum hoc munus morientis habeto. 60 

Desine Maenalios, jam desine, tibia, versus. 

Haec Damon : vos, quae respondent Alphesibceus, 
Dicite, Pierides ; non omnia possumus omnes. 

C 



26 BUCOLICON ECL. VIII. 

ALPHESIBCEUS. 

Effer aquam, et molli cinge haec altaria vitta, 

Verbenasque adole pingues, et mascula thura : 65 

Conjugis ut magicis sanos avertere sacris 

Experiar sensus : nihil hie, nisi carmina desunt. 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, dueite Daphnin. 

Carmina vel ccelo possunt deducere Lunam : 

Carminibus Circe socios mutavit Ulixi : 70 

Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis. 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 

Terna tibi haec primum, triplici diversa colore, 

Licia circumdo, terque hanc altaria circum 

Effigiem duco,: numero deus impare gaudet. 75 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 

Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores ; 

Necte, Amarylli, modo ; et, Veneris, die, vincula necto. 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 

Limus ut hie durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit 80 

Uno eodemque igni ; sic nostro Daphnis amore. 

Sparge molam, et fragiles incende bitumine lauros. 

Daphnis me malus urit : ego hanc in Daphnide laurum. 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 

Talis amor Daphnin, qualis, quum, fessa juvencum So 

Per nemora atque altos quaerendo, bucula, lucos, 

Propter aquae rivum viridi procumbit in ulva, 

Perdita, nee serae meminit decedere nocti ; 

Talis amor teneat, nee sit mihi cura mederi. 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 90 

Has olim exuvias mihi perfidus ille reliquit, 

Pignora cara sui, quae nunc ego limine in ipso, 

Terra, tibi mando : debent haec pignora Daphnin. 

Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 

Has herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena 95 

Ipse dedit Moeris : nascuntur plurima Ponto, 

His ego saepe lupum fieri, et se condere silvis 



BUCOLICON ECL. VIII. 27 

Moerin, saepe animas imis excire sepulcris, 
Atque satas alio vidi traducere messes. 
Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 
Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras ; rivoque fluenti 101 

Transque caput jace, nee respexeris : his ego Daphnin 
Aggrediar ; nihil ille deos, nil carmina, curat. 
Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnin. 
Adspice ! corripuit tremulis altaria flammis 105 

Sponte sua, dum ferre moror, cinis ipse. Bonum sit ! 
Nescio quid certe est; et Hylax in limine latrat. 
Credimus 1 an, qui amant, ipsi sibi somnia fingunt ? 
Parcite, ab urbe venit, jam parcite, carmina, Daphnis. 



BUCOLICON ECL. IX. 



ECLOGA IX. 

MCERIS. 

LYCIDAS. MCERIS. 
LYCIDAS. 

Quo te Moeri, pedes ? an, quo via ducit, in urbem 1 

MCERIS. 

O Lycida, vivi pervenimus, advena nostri, 
Quod nunquam veriti sumus, ut possessor agelli 
Diceret, Haec mea sunt ; veteres, migrate, coloni. 
Nunc victi, tristes, quoniam Fors omnia versat, 5 

Hos illi, quod nee vertat bene, mittimus haedos. 

LYCIDAS. 

Certe equidem audieram, qua se subducere colles 
Incipiunt, mollique jugum demittere clivo, 
Usque ad aquam et veteres, jam fracta cacumina, fagos, 
Omnia carminibus vestrum servasse Menalcan. 10 

MCERIS. 

Audieras 1 et fama fuit ; sed carmina tantum 

Nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter Martia, quantum 

Chaonias dicunt, aquila veniente, columbas. 

Quod, nisi me quacumque novas incidere lites 

Ante sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix, 15 

Nee tuus hie Mceris, nee viveret ipse Menalcas. 

LYCIDAS. 

Heu ! cadit in quemquam tantum scelus 1 lieu, tua nobis 

Paene simul tecum solatia rapta, Menalca 1 

Quis caneret Nymplias 1 quis humum florentibus herbis 

Spargeret 1 aut viridi fontes induceret umbra ? 20 

Vel quas sublegi tacitus tibi carmina nuper, 

Quum te ad delicias fen-es, Amaryllida, nostras ? 

" Tityre, dum redeo, brevis est via, pasce capellas. 



BUCOLICON ECL. IX. 29 

Et potura pastas age, Tityre ; et, inter agendum, 
Occursare capro, cornu ferit ille, caveto." 25 

MCERIS. 

Immo haec, qua? Varo necdum perfecta canebat 1 
" Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis, 
Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae ! 
Cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni." 

LYCIDAS. 

Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos ; 30 

Sic cytiso pastae distendant ubera vaccae : 

Incipe, si quid habes. Et me fecere poetam 

Pierides ; sunt et mihi carmina : me quoque dicunt 

Vatem pastores : sed non ego credulus illis ; 

Nam neque adhuc Vario videor, nee dicere Cinna 35 

Digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores. 

MGERIS. 

Id quidem ago, et tacitus, Lycida, mecum ipse voluto, 

Si valeam meminisse ; neque est ignobile carmen. 

" Hue ades, O Galatea ! quis est nam ludus in undis 1 

Hie ver purpureum : varios hie flumina circum 40 

Fundit humus flores : hie Candida populus antro 

Imminet, et lentae texunt umbracula vites. 

Hue ades : insani feriant sine littora fluctus." 

LYCIDAS. 

Quid, quae te pura solum sub nocte canentem 
Audieram ] numeros memini, si verba tenerem. 45 

M03RIS. 

" Daphni, quid antiquos signorum suspicis ortus % 
Ecce ! Dionaei processit Caesaris astrum ; 
Astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus, et quo 
Duceret apricis in collibus uva colorem. 
Insere, Daphni, piros ; carpent tua pom a nepotes." — 50 
Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque. Saepe ego longos 
Cantando puerum memini me condere soles : 

C 2 



30 BUCOLICON ECL. IX. 

Nunc oblita mihi tot carmina. Vox quoque Mcerin 

Jam fugit ipsa : lupi Mcerin videre priores. 

Sed tamen ista satis referet tibi saepe Menalcas. 55 

LYCIDAS. 

Caussando nostros in longum ducis amores : 

Et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor ; et omnes, 

Adspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris aurae. 

Hinc adeo media est nobis via ; namque sepulcrum 

Incipit apparere Bianoris : hie, ubi densas 60 

Agricolse stringunt frondes, hie, Mceri, canamus ; 

Hie hsedos depone ; tamen veniemus in urbem : 

Aut, si, nox pluviam ne colligat ante, veremur, 

Cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus. 

Cantantes ut eamus, ego hoc te fasce levabo. 65 

MCERIS. 

Desine plura, puer; et, quod nunc instat, agamus : 
Carmina turn melius, quum venerit ipse, canemus. 



BUCOLICON' ECU X. 31 



EC LOG A X. 

GALLUS. 

Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem : 
Pauca meo Gallo, sed quae legat ipsa Lycoris. 
Carmina sunt dicenda : neget quis carmina Gallo] 
Sic tibi, quum fluctus subterlabere Sicanos, 
Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam. 5 

Incipe : sollicitos Galli dicamus amores, 
Dum tenera attondent simae virgulta capellae. 
Non canimus surdis : respondent omnia silvae. 

Qua? nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae 
N aides, indigno quum Gallus amore peribat ? 10 

Nam neque Parnassi vobis juga, nam neque Pindi 
Ulla raoram fecere, neque Aonie Aganippe. 
Ilium etiam lauri, etiam flevere myricas : 
Pinifer ilium etiam, sola sub rupe jacentem 
Mcenalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycaei. 15 

Stant et oves circum ; nostri nee poenitet illas ; 
Nee te poeniteat pecoris, divine poeta : 
Et formosus oves ad flumina pavit Adonis. 
Venit et upilio ; tardi venere bubulci ; 
Uvidus hiberna venit de glande Menalcas. 20 

Omnes, Unde amor iste, rogant, tibi % Venit Apollo : 
Galle, quid insanis? inquit : tua cura Lycoris 
Perque nives-, alium, perque horrida castra, secuta est. 
Venit et agresti capitis Silvanus honore, 
Florentes ferulas et grandia lilia quassans. 25 

Pan deus Arcadiae venit ; quern vidimus ipsi 
Sanguineis ebuli baccis minioque rubentem : 
Ecquis erit modus 1 inquit : Amor non talia curat : 
Nee lacrimis crudelis Amor, nee gramina rivis, 
Nee cytiso saturantur apes, nee fronde capellae. 30 



♦32 BUCOLICON ECL. X. 

Tristis at ille, Tamen cantabitis, Arcades, inquit. 

IMontibus haec vestris, soli cantare periti 

Arcades. O mihi turn quam molliter ossa quiescant, 

Vestra meos olim si fistula dicat amores ! 

Atque utinam ex vobis unus, vestrique fuissera 35 

Aut custos gregis, aut maturae vinitor uvse ! 

Certe, sive mihi Phyllis, sive esset Amyntas, 

Seu quicumque furor (quid turn, si fuscus Amyntas] 

Et nigrae violas sunt, et vaccinia nigra) 

Mecum inter salices lenta sub vite jaceret ; 40 

Serta mihi Phyllis legeret, cantaret Amyntas. 

Hie gelidi fontes ; hie mollia prata, Lycori ; 

Hie nemus ; hie ipso tecum consumerer aevo. 

Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis, 

Tela inter media, atque adversos detinet hostes. 45 

Tu procul a patria (nee sit mihi credere tantum) 

Alpinas, ah dura ! nives, et frigora Rheni, 

Me sine sola vides. Ah te ne frigora laedant ! 

Ah tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas ! 

Ibo, et, Chalcidico quae sunt mihi condita versu 50 

Carmina, pastoris Siculi modulabor avena. 

Certum est in silvis, inter spelaea ferarum, 

Malle pati, tenerisque meos incidere amores 

Arboribus : crescent illse ; crescetis, amores. 

Interea mixtis lustrabo Maenala Nymphis, 55 

Aut acres venabor apros : non me ulla vetabunt 

Frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare saltus. 

Jam mihi per rupes videor lucosque sonantes 

Ire ; libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu 

Spicula : tamquam haec sit nostri medicina furoris, 60 

Aut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat. 

Jam neque Hamadryades rursus, nee carmina nobis 

Ipsa placent : ipsae, rursum concedite, silvae. 

Non ilium nostri possunt mutare labores, 

Nee, si frigoribus mediis Hebrumque bibamus, 65 



BUCOLICON ECL. X. 33 

Sithoniasque nives hiemis subeamus aquosae ; 
Nee, si, quum moriens alta. liber aret in ulmo, 
iEthiopum versemus oves sub sidere Cancri. 
Omnia vincit Amor ; et nos cedamus Amori. 

Haec sat erit, divas, vestrum cecinisse poetam, 70 

Dum sedet, et gracili fiscellam texit hibisco, 
Pierides : vos haec facietis maxima Gallo ; 
Gallo, cujus amor tantum mihi crescit in horas, 
Quantum vere novo viridis se subjicit alnus. 
Surgamus : solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra ; 75 

Juniperi gravis umbra : nocent et frugibus umbrae. 
Ite domum, saturae, venit Hesperus, ite, capellae. 



P. VIRGILII MARONIS 

GEORGICON. 

LIBER PRIMUS. 

Quid faciat laetas segetes, quo sidere terrain 

Vertere, Maecenas, ulmisque adjungere vites 

Conveniat; quae cura boum, qui cultus habendo 

Sit pecori ; apibus quanta experientia parcis : 

Hinc canere incipiam. Vos, O clarissima mundi 5 

Lumina ! labentem coelo quae ducitis annum : 

Liber, et alma Ceres, vestro si munere tellus 

Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista, 

Poculaque inventis Acheloia miscuit uvis ; 

Et vos, agrestum praesentia numina, Fauni, 10 

Ferte simul Faunique pedem Dryadesque puellae : 

Munera vestra cano. Tuque O, cui prima frementem 

Fudit equum magno tellus percussa tridenti, 

Neptune ! et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia Ceae 

Ter centum nivei tondent dumeta juvenci ; 15 

Ipse, nemus linquens patrium saltusque Lycaei, 

Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Maenala curae, 

Adsis, O Tegeaee ! favens ; oleaeque, Minerva, 

Inventrix ; uncique, puer, monstrator aratri ; 

Et teneram ab radice ferens, Silvane, cupressum : 20 

Dique deaeque omnes, studium quibus arva tueri, 

Quique novas alitis non ullo semine fruges, 

Qui que satis largum coelo demittitis imbrem ; 

Tuque adeo, quem mox quae sint habitura deorum 

Concilia, incertum est ; urbesne invisere, Caesar, 25 

Terrarumque velis cur am, et te maximus orbis 

Auctorem fhigum tempestatumque potentem 



GEORGICON LIB. I. 35 

Accipiat, cingens materna. tempora myrto ; 

An deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae 

Numina sola colant, tibi serviat ultima Thule, 30 

Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis ; 

Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas, 

Qua locus Erigonen inter Chelasque sequentes 

Panditur : ipse tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens 

Scorpius, et coeli justa. plus parte relinquit: 35 

Quidquid eris (nam te nee sperent Tartara regem, 

Nee tibi regnandi veniat tam dira cupido, 

Quamvis Elysios miretur G-raecia campos, 

Nee repetita sequi curet Proserpina matrem), 

Da facilem cursum, atque audacibus adnue coeptis ; 40 

Ignarosque viae mecum miseratus agrestes, 

Ingredere, et votis jam nunc assuesce vocari. 

Vere novo, gelidus canis quum montibus humor 
Liquitur, et Zephyro putris se gleba resolvit, 
Depresso incipiat jam turn mihi taurus aratro 45 

Ingemere, et sulco attritus splendescere vomer. 
Ilia seges demum votis respondet avari 
Agricolag, bis quae solem, bis frigora sensit; 
Illius immensse ruperunt horrea messes. 
At prius, ignotum ferro quam scindimus aequor, 50 

Ventos et varium coeli praediscere morem 
Cura sit, ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum; 
Et quid quaeque ferat regio, et quid quaeque recuset. 
Hie segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae ; 
Arborei foetus alibi, atque injussa virescunt 55 

Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, 
India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabaei ; 
At Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus 
Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epirus equarum % 
Continup has leges, aeternaque foedera, certis 60 

Imposuit natura locis, quo tempore primum 
Deucalion vacuum lapides jactavit in orbem, 



3G GE ORG ICON LIB. I. 

Unde homines nati, durum genus. Ergo age, terrae 

Pingue solum primis extemplo a mensibus anni 

Fortes invertant tauri, glebasque jacentes 65 

Pulverulenta coquat matmis solibus aestas : 

At, si non fuerit tellus foecunda, sub ipsum 

Arcturum tenui sat erit suspendere sulco : 

line, officiant laetis ne frugibus herbae ; 

Hie, sterilem exiguus ne deserat humor arenam. 70 

Alternis idem tonsas cessare novales, 

Et segnem patiere situ durescere campum. 

Aut ibi flava seres, mutato sidere, farra, 

Unde prius laetum siliqua quassante legumen, 

Aut tenues foetus viciae, tristisque lupini 75 

Sustuleris fragiles calamos silvamque sonantem. 

Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenae ; 

Urunt Lethaeo perfusa papavera somno. 

Sed tamen alternis facilis labor : arida tantum 

Ne saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola, neve 80 

Effcetos cinerem immundum jactare per agros. 

Sic quoque mutatis requiescunt foetibus arva ; 

Nee nulla interea est inaratae gratia terrae. 

Saepe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros, 

Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis : 85 

Sive inde occultas vires et pabula terrae 

Pinguia concipiunt ; sive illis omne per ignem 

Excoquitur vitium, atque exsudat inutilis humor ; 

Seu plures calor ille vias et caeca relaxat 

Spiramenta, novas veniat qua succus in herbas ; 90 

Seu durat magis, et venas adstringit hiantes, 

Ne tenues pluviae, rapidive potentia solis 

Acrior, aut Boreae penetrabile frigus adurat. 

Multum adeo, rastris glebas qui frangit inertes, 

Vimineasque trahit crates, juvat arva ; neque ilium 95 

Flava Ceres alto nequidquam spectat Olympo : 

Et qui, proscisso quae suscitat aequore terga, 



GEOKGICON LIB. I. 37 

Rursus in obliquum verso perrumpit aratro, 
Exercetque frequens tellurem, atque imperat arvis. ' 

Humida solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas, 100 

Agricolae ; hiberno laetissima pulvere farra, 
Laetus ager : nullo tantum se Mysia cultu 
Jactat, et ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messes. 
Quid dicam, jacto qui semine comminus arva 
Insequitur, cumulosque ruit male pinguis arenae, 105 

Deinde satis fluvium inducit rivosque sequentes % 
Et, quum exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis, 
Ecce ! supercilio clivosi tramitis undam 
Elicit : ilia cadens raucum per levia murmur 
Saxa cie^, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva. 110 

Quid, qui, ne gravidis procumbat culmus aristis, 
Luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba, 
Quum primum sulcos aequant sata % quique paludis 
Collectum humorem bibula deducit arena 1 
Praesertim, incertis si mensibus amnis abundans 115 

Exit, et obducto late tenet omnia limo ; 
Unde cava? tepido sudant humore lacunae. 
Nee tamen, haec quum sint hominumque boumque labores 
Versando terram experti, nihil improbus anser, 
Strymoniaeque grues, et amaris intuba fibris, 120 

Officiunt, aut umbra nocet. Pater ipse colendi 
Haud facilem esse viam voluit ; primusque per artem 
Movit agros, curis acuens mortalia corda, 
Nee torpere gravi passus sua regna vetemo. 

Ante Jovem nulli subigebant arva coloni : 125 

Ne sign are quidem aut partiri limite campum 
Fas erat : in medium quaerebant ; ipsaque tellus 
Omnia liberius, nullo poscente, ferebat. 
Ille malum virus serpentibus addidit atris, 
Praedarique lupos jussit, pontumque moveri ; 130 

Mellaque decussit foliis, ignemque removit, 
Et passim rivis currentia vina repressit : 



38 GEORGICON LIB. I. 

Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artes 

Paullatim, et sulcis frumenti quaereret herbam ; 

Ut silicis venis abstrusum excuderet ignem. 135 

Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas ; 

Navita turn stellis numeros et nomina fecit, 

Plei'adas, Hyadas, claramque Lycaonis Arcton. 

Turn laqueis captare feras, et fallere visco, 

Inventum, et magnos canibus circumdare saltus : 140 

Atque alius latum funda jam verberat amnem, 

Alta petens ; pelagoque alius trahit humid a lina. 

Turn ferri rigor, atque argutae lamina serrae 

(Nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum), 

Turn variae venere artes : labor omnia vicit 145 

Improbus, et duris urguens in rebus egestas. 

Prima Ceres ferro mortales vertere terram 

Instituit, quum jam glandes atque arbuta sacrae 

Deficerent silvae, et victum Dodona negaret. 

Mox et frumentis labor additus, ut mala culmos 150 

Esset rubigo, segnisque horreret in arvis 

Carduus : intereunt segetes ; subit aspera silva, 

Lappaeque tribulique ; interque nitentia culta 

Infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenae. 

Quod, nisi et assiduis terram insectabere rastris, 155 

Et sonitu terrebis aves, et ruris opaci 

Falce premes umbras, votisque vocaveris imbrem ; 

Heu ! magnum alterius frustra spectabis acervum, 

Concussaque famem in silvis solabere quercu. 

Dicendum et, quae sint duris agrestibus arma, 160 

Quis sine nee potuere seri, nee surgere, messes : 
Vomis et inflexi primum grave robur aratri, 
Tardaque Eleusinae matris volventia plaustra, 
Tribulaque, traheaeque, et iniquo pondere rastri ; 
Virgea praeterea Celei vilisque supellex, 165 

Arbuteae crates, et mystica vannus lacchi : 
Omnia quae multo ante memor provisa repones, 



GEORGICON LIB. I. 39 

Si te digna manet divini gloria ruris. 

Continuo in silvis magna vi flexa domatur 

In burim et curvi formam accipit ulmus aratri : 170 

Huic a stirpe pedes temo protentus in octo, 

Binae aures, duplici aptantur dentalia dorso. 

Caeditur et tilia ante jugo levis, altaque fagus 

Stivae, quae currus a tergo torqueat imos ; 

Et suspensa focis explorat robora fumus. 175 

Possum multa tibi veterum praecepta referre, 
Ni refugis, tenuesque piget cognoscere curas. 
Area cum primis ingenti aequanda cylindro, 
Et vertenda manu, et creta solidanda tenaci, 
Ne subeant herbae, neu pulvere victa fatiscat. 180 

Turn variae illudant pestes : saepe exiguus mus 
Sub terris posuitque domos atque horrea fecit ; 
Aut oculis capti fodere cubilia talpae ; 
Inventusque cavis bufo, et quae plurima terrae 
Monstra ferunt ; populatque ingentem farris acervum 185 
Curculio, atque inopi metuens formica senectae. 
Contemplator item, quum se nux plurima silvis 
Induet in florem, et ramos curvabit olentes : 
Si superant foetus, pariter frumenta sequentur, 
Magnaque cum magno veniet tritura calore : 190 

At, si luxuria foliorum exuberet umbra, 
Nequidquam pingues palea. teret area culmos. 
Semina vidi equidem multos medicare serentes, 
Et nitro prius et nigra perfundere amurca ; 
Grandior ut foetus siliquis fallacibus esset. 195 

Et, quamvis, igni exiguo, properata maderent, 
Vidi lecta diu, et multo spectata labore, 
Degenerare tamen, ni vis humana quotannis 
Maxima quaeque manu legeret : sic omnia fatis 
In pejus ruere, ac retro sublapsa referri ; 200 

Non aliter, quam qui adverso vix flumine lembum 
Remigiis subigit, si brachia forte remisit, 
Atque ilium in praeceps prono rapit alveus amni. 



40 GEORGICON LIB. I. 

Praeterea, tam sunt Arcturi sidera nobis, 
Haedorumque dies servandi, et lucidus Anguis, 205 

Quam quibus in patriam ventosa per aequora vectis 
Pontus, et ostriferi fauces tentantur Abydi. 
Libra die somnique *pares ubi fecerit horas, 
Et medium luci atque umbris jam dividit orbem, 
Exercete, viri, tauros ; serite hordea campis 210 

Usque sub extremum brumae intractabilis imbrem. 
Nee non et lini segetem, et Cereale papaver 
Tempus humo tegere, et jamdudum incumbere aratrisj 
Dum sicca tellure licet, dum nubila pendent. 
Vere fabis satio : turn te quoque, Medica, putres 215 
Accipiunt sulci, et milio venit annua cura, 
Candidus auratis aperit quum cornibus annum 
Taurus, et adverso cedens Canis occidit astro. 
At, si triticeam in messem robustaque farra 
Exercebis humum, solisque instabis aristis ; 220 

Ante tibi Eoae Atlantides abscond antur, 
Gnosiaque ardentis decedat stella Coronae, 
Debita quam sulcis committas semina, quamque 
Invitae properes anni spem credere terrae. 
Multi ante occasum Maiae coepere ; sed illos 225 

Exspectata seges vanis elusit avenis. 
Si vero viciamque seres vilemque phaselum, 
Nee Pelusiacae curam adspernabere lentis : 
Haud obscura cadens mittet tibi signa Bootes : 
Incipe, et ad medias sementem extende pruinas. 230 

Idcirco, certis dimensum partibus orbem 
Per duodena regit mundi sol aureus astra. 
Quinque tenent coelum zonae : quarum una corusco 
Semper sole rubens, et torrida semper ab igni ; 
Quam circum extremae dextra laevaque trahuntur, 235 
Caerulea glacie concretae atque imbribus atris ; 
Has inter mediamque duae mortalibus asgris 
Munere concessae divum : et via secta per ambas, 



GEOHGICON LIB. I. 41 

Obliquus qua se signorum verteret ordo. 

Mundus ut ad Scythiam Rhipaeasque arduus arces 240 

Consurgit, premitur Libyae devexus in Austros. 

Hie vertex nobis semper sublimis : at ilium, 

Sub pedibus, Styx atra videt, Manesque profundi. 

Maximus hie flexu sinuoso elabitur Anguis 

Circum, perque duas, in morem fluminis, Arctos, 245 

Arctos Oceani metuentes aequore tingui. 

Illic, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox, 

Semper et obtenta densentur nocte tenebras ; 

Aut redit a nobis Aurora, diemque reducit ; 

Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis, 250 

Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper. 

Hinc tempestates dubio praediscere coelo 

Possumus; hinc messisque diem, tempusque serendi ; 

Et quando infidum remis impellere marmor 

Conveniat ; quando armatas deducere classes 255 

Aut tempestivam silvis evertere pinum. 

Nee frustra signorum obitus speculamur et ortus, 
Temporibusque parem diversis quatuor annum. 
Frigidus agricolam si quando continet imber, 
Multa, forent quae mox coelo properanda sereno, 260 
Maturare datur : durum procudit arator 
Vomeris obtusi dentem ; cavat arbore lintres ; 
Aut pecori signum, aut numeros impressit acervis. 
Exacuunt alii vallos, furcasque bicornes, 
Atque Amerina parant lentae retinacula viti. 265 

Nunc facilis rubea. texatur fiscina virga ; 
Nunc torrete igni fruges, nunc frangite saxo. 
Quippe etiam festis quaedam exercere diebus 
Fas et jura sinunt ; rivos deducere nulla 
Religio vetuit, segeti praetendere sepem, 270 

Insidias avibus moliri, incendere vepres, 
Balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri. 
Saepe oleo tardi costas agitator aselli 
D2 



42 GEORGICON LIB. I. 

Vilibus aut onerat pomis ; lapidemque, revertens, 
Incusum, aut atrae massam picis, urbe reportat. 275 

Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordiue Luna 
Felices operura : quintam fuge ; pallidus Orcus, 
Eumenidesque satae ; turn partu Terra nefando 
Coeumque Iapetumque creat, saevumque Typhoea, 
Et conjuratos coelum rescindere fratres. 280 

Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam, 
Scilicet atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum ; 
Ter pater exstructos disjecit fulmine montes. 
Septima post decimam felix, et ponere vitem, 
Et prensos domitare boves, et licia telae 285 

Addere ; nona fugae melior, contraria furtis. 

Multa adeo gelida melius se nocte dedere, 
Aut quum sole novo terras irrorat Eous. 
Nocte leves melius stipulae, nocte arida prata 
Tondentur ; noctes lentus non deficit humor. 290 

Et quidam seros hiberni ad luminis ignes 
Pervigilat, ferroque faces inspicat acuto : 
Interea, longum cantu solata laborem, 
Arguto conjux percurrit pectine telas , 
Aut dulcis musti Vulcano decoquit humorem, 295 

Et foliis undam trepidi despumat aheni. 

At rubicunda Ceres medio succiditur aestu, 
Et medio tostas aestu terit area fruges. 
Nudus ara, sere nudus : hiems ignava colono. 
Frigoribus parto agricolae plerumque fruuntur, 300 

Mutuaque inter se laeti convivia curant. 
Invitat genialis hiems, curasque resolvit : 
Ceu pressae quum jam portum tetigere carinae, 
Puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas. 
Sed tamen et quernas glandes turn stringere tempus, 305 
Et lauri baccas, oleamque, cruentaque myrta ; 
Turn gruibus pedicas, et retia ponere cervis, 
Auritosque sequi lepores ; turn figere damas, 



GEORGICON LIB. I. 43 

Stuppea torquentem Balearis verbera fundae, 

Quum nix alta jacet, glaciem quum flumina trudunt. 310 

Quid tempestates auctumni et sidera dicam 1 
Atque, ubi jam breviorque dies et mollior aestas, 
Quae vigilanda viris ] vel, quum ruit imbriferum ver, 
Spicea jam campis quum messis inhorruit, et quum 
Frumenta in viridi stipula lactentia turguent ? 315 

Saepe ego, quum flavis messorem induceret arvis 
Agricola, et fragili jam stringeret hordea culmo, 
Omnia ventorum concurrere prcelia vidi, 
Quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus imis 
Sublime expulsam eruerent ; ita turbine nigro 320 

Ferret hiems culmumque levem stipulasque volantes. 
Saepe etiam immensum ccelo venit agmen aquarum, 
Et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris 
Collectae ex alto nubes ; ruit arduus aether, 
Et pluvia ingenti sata laeta boumque labores 325 

Diluit ; implentur fossae, et cava flumina crescunt 
Cum sonitu ; fervetque fretis spirantibus aequor. 
Ipse Pater, media nimborum in nocte, corusca 
Fulmina molitur dextra : quo maxima motu 
Terra tremit ; fugere ferae ; et mortalia corda 330 

Per gentes humilis stravit pavor : ille flagranti 
Aut Atho, aut Rhodopen, aut alta Ceraunia telo 
Dejicit ; ingeminant austri et densissimus imber ; 
Nunc nemora ingenti vento, nunc littora plangunt. 

Hoc metuens, cceli menses et sidera serva ; 335 

Frigida Saturni sese quo Stella receptet ; 
Quos ignis ccelo Cyllenius erret in orbes. 
In primis venerare deos, atque annua magnae 
Sacra refer Cereri, leetis operatus in herbis, 
Extremae sub casum hiemis, jam vere sereno. 340 

Turn pingues agni, et turn mollissima vina ; 
Turn somni dulces, densaeque in montibus umbrae. 
Cuncta tibi Cererem pubes agrestis adoret ; 



44 GEORGICON LIB. I. 

Cui tu lacte favos et miti dilue Baccho, 

Terque novas circum felix eat hostia fruges, 345 

Omnis quam chorus et socii comitentur ovantes, 

Et Cererem clam ore vocent in tecta; neque ante 

Falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, 

Quam Cereri, torta redimitus tempora quercu, 

Det motus incompositos, et carmina dicat. 350 

Atque, haec ut certis possemus discere signis, 
^Estusque, pluviasque, et agentes frigora ventos ; 
Ipse Pater statuit, quid menstrua Luna moneret; 
Quo signo caderent austri ; quid sagpe videntes 
Agricolae propius stabulis armenta tenerent. 355 

Continuo, ventis surgentibus, aut freta ponti 
Incipiunt agitata tumescere, et aridus altis 
Montibus audiri fragor ; aut resonantia longe 
Littora misceri, et nemorum increbrescere murmur. 
Jam sibi turn a curvis male temperat unda carinis, 360 
Quum medio celeres revolant ex aequore mergi, 
Clamoremque ferunt ad littora, quumque marinae 
In sicco ludunt fulicae, notasque paludes 
Deserit, atque altam supra volat ardea nubem. 
Saepe etiam Stellas, vento impendente, videbis 365 

Praecipites ccelo labi, noctisque per umbram 
Flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus ; 
Saepe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas, 
Aut summa. nantes in aqua colludere plamas. 
At, Boreae de parte trucis quum fulminat, et quum 370 
Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus ; omnia plenis 
Rura natant fossis, atque omnis navita ponto 
Humida vela legit. Nunquam imprudentibus imber 
Obfuit : aut ilium surgentem vallibus imis 
Aeriae fugere grues ; aut bucula, coelum 37£ 

Suspiciens, patulis captavit naribus auras; 
Aut arguta lacus circumvolitavit hirundo, 
Et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. 



GEORGICON LIB. I. 45 

Saepius et tectis penetralibus extulit ova 
Angustum formica terens iter ; et bibit ingens 380 

Arcus ; et, e pastu decedens agmine magno, 
Corvorum increpuit densis exercitus alis. 
Jam varias pelagi volucres, et quae Asia circum 
Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri, 
Certatim largos humeris infundere rores, 3S5 

Nunc caput objectare fretis, nunc currere in undas, 
Et studio incassum videas gestire lavandi. 
Turn comix plena pluviam vocat improba voce, 
Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur arena- 
Nee noctuma quidem carpentes pensa puellae 390 
Nescivere hiemem, testa, quum ardente viderent 
Scintillare oleum, et putres concrescere fungos. 

Nee minus ex imbri soles et aperta serena 
Prospicere, et certis poteris cognoscere signis : 
Nam neque turn stellis acies obtusa videtur, 395 

Nee fratris radiis obnoxia surgere Luna, 
Tenuia nee lanae per caelum vellera ferri ; 
Non tepidum ad solem pennas in littore pandunt 
Dilectae Thetidi alcyones ; non ore solutos 
Immundi meminere sues jactare maniplos : 400 

At nebulas magis ima petunt, campoque recumbunt; 
Solis et occasum servans de culmine summo 
Nequidquam seros exercet noctua cantus. 
Apparet liquido sublimis in aere Nisus, 
Et pro purpureo pcenas dat Scylla capillo : 405 

Quacumque ilia levem fugiens secat aethera pennis, 
Ecce ! inimicus atrox magno stridore per auras 
Insequitur Nisus : qua se fert Nisus ad auras, 
Ilia levem fugiens raptim secat aethera pennis. 
Turn liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces 410 

Aut quater ingeminant ; et saepe cubilibus altis, 
Nescio qua. praeter solitum dulcedine laeti, 
Inter se in foliis strepitant : juvat imbribus actis 



46 GEORGICON LIB. I. 

Progeniem parvam dulcesque revisere nidos. 

Haud equidem credo, quia sit divinitus illis 415 

Ingenium, aut rerum fato pradentia major: 

Verum, ubi tempestas et cceli mobilis humor 

Mutavere vias, et Jupiter uvidus austris 

Densat, erant quae rara modo, et, quae densa, relaxat ; 

Vertuntur species animorum, et pectora motus 420 

Nunc alios (alios, dum nubila ventus agebat) 

Concipiunt: hinc ille avium concentus in agris, 

Et laetae pecudes, et ovantes gutture corvi. 

Si vero solem ad rapidum, lunasque sequentes 
Ordine, respicies, nunquam te crastina fallet 425 

Hora, neque insidiis noctis capiere serenae. 
Luna revertentes quum primum colligit ignes, 
Si nigrum obscuro comprenderit aera cornu, 
Maximus agricolis pelagoque parabitur imber : 
At, si virgineum suffuderit ore ruborem, 430 

Ventus erit : vento semper rubet aurea Phcebe. 
Sin ortu quarto, namque is certissimus auctor, 
Pura, neque obtusis per ccelum comibus ibit, 
Totus et ille dies, et, qui nascentur ab illo 
Exactum ad mensem, pluvia. ventisque carebunt ; 435 

Votaque servati solvent in littore nautae 
Glauco, et Panopeae, et Inoo Melicertae. 

Sol quoque, et exoriens, et quum se condet in undas, 
Signa dabit : solem certissima signa sequuntur, 
Et quae mane refert, et quae surgentibus astris. 440 - 

Ille ubi nascentem maculis variaverit ortum, 
Conditus in nubem, medioque refugerit orbe, 
Suspecti tibi sint imbres ; namque urguet ab alto 
Arboribusque satisque Notus pecorique sinister. 
Aut ubi sub lucem, densa inter nubila, sese 445 : 

Diversi rumpent radii, aut ubi pallida surget 
Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile ; 
Heu ! male turn mites defendet pampinus uvas : 






GEORGICON LIB. I. 47 

Tam multa in tectis crepitans salit horrida grando. 

Hoc etiam, eraenso quum jam decedet Olympo, 450 

Profuerit meminisse magis ; nam saepe videmus 

Ipsius in vultu varios errare colores : 

Caeruleus pluviam denuntiat, igneus Euros ; 

Sin maculae incipient rutilo immiscerier igni, 

Omnia turn pariter vento nimbisque videbis 455 

Fervere : non ilia quisquam me nocte per altum 

Ire, neque ab terra moneat convellere funem. 

At, si, quum referetque diem, condetque relatum, 

Lucidus orbis erit, frustra terrebere nimbis, 

Et claro silvas cernes aquilone moveri. 460 

Denique, quid vesper serus vehat, unde serenas 

Ventus agat nubes, quid cogitet humidus Auster, 

Sol tibi signa dabit. Solem quis dicere falsum 

Audeat % Ille etiam caecos instare tumultus 

Saepe monet, fraudemque et operta tumescere bell a. 465 

Ille etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam ; 

Quum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit, 

Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem. 

Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque, et aequora ponti, 

Obscenaeque canes, importunaeque volucres, 470 

Signa dabant. Quoties Cyclop um effervere in agros 

Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus iEtnam, 

Flammarumque globos liquefactaque volvere saxa ! 

Armorum sonitum toto Germania coelo 

Audiit ; insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes. 475 

Vox quoque per lucos vulgo exaudita silentes 

Ingens ; et simulacra, modis pallentia miris, 

Visa sub obscurum noctis ; pecudesque loquutae, 

Infandum ! sistunt amnes, terraeque dehiscunt ; 

Et moestum illacrimat templis ebur, aeraque sudant. 480 

Proluit, insano contorquens vortice silvas, 

Fluviorum rex Eridanus, camposque per omnes 

Cum stabulis armenta tulit. Nee tempore eodem 



48 GEORGICON LIB. I. 

Tristibus aut extis fibrae apparere minaces, 

Aut puteis manare cruor cessavit, et altae 4S5 

Per noctem resonare, lupis ululantibus, urbes. 

Non alias coelo ceciderunt plura sereno 

Fulgura ; nee diri toties arsere cometae. 

Ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis 

Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi ; 490 

Nee fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro 

Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos. 

Scilicet et tempus veniet, quum finibus illis 

Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro, 

Exesa inveniet scabra rubigine pila, 495 

Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes, 

Grandiaque efFossis mirabitur ossa sepulcris. 

Df patrii,Indigetes, et Romule, Vestaque mater, 
Quae Tuscum Tiberim et Romana Palatia servas, 
Hunc saltern everso juvenem succurrere sasclo 500 

Ne prohibete ! Satis jam pridem sanguine nostro 
Laomedonteae luimus perjuria Trojae. 
Jam pridem nobis cceli te regia, Caesar, 
Invidet, atque hominum queritur curare triumpbos : 
Quippe ubi fas versum atque nefas ; tot bella per orbem, 
Tam multae scelerum facies ; non ullus aratro 50G 

Dignus honos ; squalent abductis arva colonis, 
Et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in ensem ; 
Hinc movet Euphrates, illinc Germania, bellum ; 
Vicinae ruptis inter se le gibus urbes 510 

Arma ferunt ; saevit toto Mars impius orbe : 
Ut, quum carceribus sese effudere quadrigae, 
Addunt in spatia, et, fhistra retinacula tendens, 
Fertur equis auriga, neque audit currus habenas. 






P. VIRGILII MARONIS 

GEORGICON, 



LIBER SECUNDUS. 

Hactenus arvorum cultus et sidera coeli ; 

Nunc te, Bacche, canam, nee non silvestria tecum 

Virgulta, et prolem tarde crescentis olivae. 

Hue, pater O Lenaee ! tuis hie omnia plena 

Muneribus ; tibi pampineo gravidus auctumno 5 

Floret ager, spumat plenis vindemia labris ; 

Hue, pater O Lenaee ! veni, nudataque musto 

Tingue novo mecum dereptis crura cothurnis. 

Principio, arboribus varia est natura creandis. 
Namque alias, nullis hominum cogentibus, ipsae 10 

Sponte sua veniunt, camposque et flumina late 
Curva tenent : ut molle siler, lentaeque genestae, 
Populus, et glauca canentia fronde salicta. 
Pars autem posito surgunt de semine : ut altae 
Castaneae, nemorumque Jovi quae maxima frondet 15 

iEsculus, atque, habitae Grans oracula, quercus. 
Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima silva ; 
Ut cerasis, ulmisque : etiam Parnasia laurus 
Parva sub ingenti matris se subjicit umbra. 
Hos Natura modos primum dedit : his genus orane 20 
Silvarum fruticumque viret nemorumque sacrorum. 

Sunt alii, quos ipse via. sibi reperit usus. 
Hie, plantas teneras, abscindens de corpore matrum, 
Deposuit sulcis : hie stirpes obruit arvo, 
Quadrifidasque sudes, et acuto robore vallos : 25 

Silvarumque aliae pressos propaginis arcus 
Exspectant, et viva sua plantaria terra : 

E 



50 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Nil radicis egent aliae, summumque putator 

Haud dubitat terrae referens mandare eacumen. 

Quin et caudicibus sectis, mirabile dictu ! 30 

Truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno. 

Et saepe alterius ramos impune videmus 

Vertere in alterius, mutatamque insita mala 

Ferre pirum, et prunis lapidosa rubescere corna. 

Quare agite, O, proprios generatim discite cultus, 35 
Agricolae ! fructusque feros mollite colendo ; 
Neu segnes jaceant terrae. Juvat Ismara Baccho 
Conserere, atque olea magnum vestire Taburnum. 

Tuque ades, inceptumque una decurre laborem, 
O decus ! O famae merito pars maxima nostrae, 40 

Maecenas ! pelagoque volans da vela patenti. 
Non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto ; 
Non, mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, 
Ferrea vox : ades, et primi lege littoris oram ; 
In manibus terrae : non hie te carmine ficto, 45 

Atque per ambages et longa exorsa, tenebo. 

Sponte sua quae se tollunt in luminis auras, 
Infcecunda quidem, sed laeta et fortia surgunt : 
Quippe solo natura subest. Tamen haec quoque, si quis 
Inserat, aut scrobibus mandet mutata subactis, 50 

Exuerint silvestrem animum ; cultuque frequenti 
In quascumque voces artes, baud tarda sequentur. 
Nee non et sterilis, quae stirpibus exit ab imis, 
Hoc faciet, vacuos si sit digesta per agros : 
Nunc altae frondes et rami matris opacant, 55 

Crescentique adimunt foetus, uruntve ferentem. 
Jam, quae seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos, 
Tarda venit, seris factura nepotibus umbram ; 
Pomaque degenerant succos oblita priores ; 
Et turpes avibus praedam fert uva racemos. 60 

Scilicet omnibus est labor impendendus ; et omnes 
Cogendae in sulcum, ac multa mercede domandce. 



GEORGICON LIB. II. 51 

Sed truncis oleae melius, propagine vites 

Respondent, solido Paphiae de robore myrtus. 

Plantis et durae coruli nascuntur, et ingens 65 

Fraxinus, Herculeaeque arbos umbrosa coronas, 

Chaoniique patris glandes : etiam ardua palma 

Nascitur, et casus abies visura marinos. 

Inseritur vero et nucis arbutus horrida fcetu, 

Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes : 70 

Castaneae fagus, omusque incanuit albo 

Flore piri, glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis. 

Nee modus inserere atque oculos imponere simplex. 
Nam, qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmae, 
Et tenues rumpunt tunicas, angustus in ipso 75 

Fit nodo sinus : hue aliena. ex arbore germen 
Includunt, udoque docent inolescere libro. 
Aut rursum enodes trunci resecantur, et alte 
Finditur in solidum cuneis via ; deinde feraces 
Plantae immittuntur : nee longum tempus, et ingens 80 
Exiit ad ccelum ramis felicibus arbos, 
Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poma. 

Praeterea, genus haud unura, nee fortibus ulmis, 
Nee salici, lotoque, neque Idaeis cyparissis : 
Nee pingues unam in faciem nascuntur olivae, 85 

Oichades, et Radii, et amara. Pausia bacca ; 
Pomaque, et Alcinoi silvas : nee surculus idem 
Crustumiis Syriisque piris, gravibusque volemis : 
Non eadem arboribus pendet vindemia nostris, 
Quam Methymnaeo carpit de palmite Lesbos. 90 

Sunt Thasiae vites ; sunt et Mareotides albae ; 
Pinguibus hae terris babiles, levioribus illae ; 
Et passo Psithia utilior ; tenuisque Lageos, 
Tentatura pedes olim, vincturaque linguam ; 
Purpurea?, Preciaeque : et — quo te carmine dicam, 95 
Rhaetica'? nee cellis ideo contende Falernis. 
Sunt et Aminaeae vites, firmissima vina, 



52 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Tmolius assurgit quibus, et rex ipse Phanaeus ; 
Argitisque minor, cui non certaverit ulla, 
Aut tantum fluere, aut totidera durare per annos. 100 
Non ego te, dis et mensis accepta secundis, 
Transierim, Rhodia, et turaidis, Bumaste, racemis. 
Sed neque, quam multae species, nee, nomina qua? sint, 
Est numerus ; neque enim numero comprendere refert: 
Quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem 105 

Discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur arenas ; 
Aut, ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, 
Nosse, quot Ionii veniant ad littora fluctus. 

Nee vero terras ferre omnes omnia possunt. 
Fluminibus salices, crassisque paludibus alni 110 

Nascuntur ; steriles saxosis montibus orni : 
Littora myrtetis laetissima : denique apertos 
Bacchus amat colles, aquilonem et frigora taxi. 
Aspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem, 
Eoasque domos Arabum, pictosque G-elonos ; 115 

Divisae arboribus patriae : sola India nigrum 
Fert ebenum ; solis est thurea virga Sabaeis. 
Quid tibi odorato referam sudantia ligno 
Balsamaque, et baccas semper frondentis acanthi 1 
Quid nemora jJCthiopum, molli canentia lana? 120 

Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres ] 
Aut quos, Oceano propior, gerit India lucos, 
Extremi sinus orbis 1 ubi aera vincere summum 
Arboris haud ullae jactu potuere sagittae : 
Et gens ilia quidem sumtis non tarda pharetris. 125 

Media fert tristes succos tardumque saporem 
Felicis mali ; quo non praesentius ullum, 
Pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, 
[Miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba,] 
Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena. 130 

Ipsa ingens arbos, faciemque simillima lauro ; 
Et, si non alium late jactaret odorem, 



GEORGICON LIB. II. 53 

Laurus erat : folia haud ullis labentia ventis ; 
Flos ad prima tenax : animas et olentia Medi 
Ora fovent illo, et senibus medicantur anhelis. 135 

Sed neque Medorum, silvae ditissima, terra, 
Nee pulcher Ganges, atque auro turbidus Hermus, 
Laudibus Italias certent ; non Bactra, neque Indi, 
Totaque thuriferis Panchai'a pinguis arenis. 
Haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem 140 

Invertere, satis immanis dentibus hydri ; 
Nee galeis densisque virum seges hoiruit hastis : 
Sed gravidae fruges et Bacchi Massicus humor 
Implevere ; tenent oleae armentaque laeta. 
Hinc bellator equus campo sese arduus infert : 145 

Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima, taurus, 
Victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, 
Romanos ad templa deum duxere triumphos. 
Hie ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus aestas ; 
Bis gravidae pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbor. 150 

At rabidae tigres absunt, et saeva leonum 
Semina ; nee miseros fallunt aconita legentes ; 
Nee rapit immensos orbes per humum, neque tanto 
Squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis. 
Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem, 155 

Tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis, 
Fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros. 
An mare, quod supra, memorem, quodque alluit infra 1 
Anne lacus tantos % te, Lari maxime, teque, 
Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens, Benace, marino ] 160 

An memorem portus, Lucrinoque addita claustra, 
Atque indignatum magnis stridoribus aequor, 
Julia qua ponto longe sonat unda refuso, 
Tyrrhenusque fretis immittitur aestus Avernis 1 
Haec eadem argenti rivos serisque metalla 165 

Ostendit venis, atque auro plurima fluxit. 
Haec genus acre virum, Marsos, pubemque Sabellara, 
E 2 



54 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Assuetumque malo Ligurem, Volscosque verutos, 
Extulit; haec Decios, Marios, magnosque Camillos, 
Scipiadas duros bello, et te, maxime Caesar, 170 

Qui nunc, extremis Asiae jam victor in oris, 
Imbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum. 
Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus ! 
Magna virum : tibi res antiquae laudis et artis 
Ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontes, 175 

Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen. 

Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis ; quae robora cuique, 
Quis color, et quae sit rebus natura ferendis. 
Difficiles primum terrae, collesque maligni, 
Tenuis ubi argilla, et dumosis calculus arvis, 180 

Palladia gaudent silva vivacis olivae. 
Indicio est tractu surgens oleaster eodem 
Plurimus, et strati baccis silvestribus agri. 
At, quae pinguis humus, dulcique uligine laeta, 
Quique frequens herbis et fertilis ubere campus; 1S5 
Qualem saepe cava montis convalle solemus 
Dispicere (hue summis liquuntur rupibus amnes, 
Felicemque trahunt limum), quique editus austro, 
Et filicem curvis invisam pascit aratris ; 
Hie tibi praevalidas olim multoque fluentes 190 

Sufficiet Baccho vites : hie fertilis uvae ; 
Hie laticis, qualem pateris libamus et auro, 
Inflavit quum pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad aras, 
Lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta. 
Sin armenta magis studium vitulosque tueri, 195 

Aut foetus ovium, aut urentes culta capellas ; 
Saltus, et saturi petito longinqua Tarenti, 
Et qualem infelix amisit Mantua campum, 
Pascentem niveos herboso flumine eyenos : 
Non liquidi gregibus fontes, non gramina deerunt ; 200 
Et, quantum longis carpent armenta diebus, 
Exigua tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet. 



GEORGICON LIB. II. 55 

Nigra fere et presso pinguis sub vomere terra, 

Et cui putre solum (namque hoc imitamur arando), 

Optima frumentis : non ullo ex aequore cernes 205 

Plura domum tardis decedere plaustra juvencis : 

Aut, unde iratus silvam devexit arator, 

Et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos, 

Antiquasque domos avium cum stirpibus imis 

Eruit : illae altum nidis petiere relictis ; 210 

At rudis enituit impulso vomere campus. 

Nam jejuna quidem clivosi glarea runs 

Vix humiles apibus casias roremque ministrat : 

Et tophus scaber et nigris exesa chelydris 

Creta negant alios aeque serpentibus agros 215 

Dulcem ferre cibum, et curvas praebere latebras. 

Quae tenuem exhalat nebulam fumosque volucres, 

Et bibit humorem, et, quum vult, ex se ipsa remittit; 

Quaeque suo viridi semper se gramme vestit, 

Nee scabie et salsa laedit rubigine ferrum : 220 

Ilia tibi laetis intexet vitibus ulmos; 

Ilia ferax oleo est ; illam experiere colendo . 

Et facilem pecori, et patientem vomeris unci. 

Talem dives arat Capua, et vicina Vesevo 

Ora jugo, et vacuis Clanius non aequus Acerris. 225 

Nunc, quo quamque modo possis cognoscere, dicam. 
Rara sit, an supra morem si densa requiras ; 
Altera frumentis quoniam favet, altera Baccho ; 
Densa magis Cereri, rarissima quaeque Lyaeo : 
Ante locum capies oculis, alteque jubebis 230 

In solido puteum demitti, omnemque repones 
Rursus humum, et pedibus summas aequabis arenas. 
Si deerunt, rarum, pecorique et vitibus almis 
Aptius, uber erit : sin in sua posse negabunt 
Ire loca, et scrobibus superabit terra repletis, 235 

Spissus ager ; glebas cunctantes crassaque terga 
Exspecta, et validis terram proscinde juvencis. 



56 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Salsa autem tellus, et quae perhibetur amara, 

Frugibus infelix (ea nee mansuescit arando, 

Nee Baccho genus, aut pomis sua nomina servat) 240 

Tale dabit specimen : tu spisso vimine qualos, 

Colaque prselorum fumosis deripe tectis ; 

Hue ager ille malus, dulcesque a fontibus undae, 

Ad plenum calcentur : aqua eluctabitur omnis 

Scilicet, et grandes ibunt per vimina guttae ; 245 

At sapor indicium faciet, manifestus et ora 

Tristia tentantum sensu torquebit amaror. 

Pinguis item quae sit tellus, hoc denique pacto 

Discimus : haud unquam manibus j aetata fatiscit, 

Sed picis in morem ad digitos lentescit habendo. 250 

Humida majores herbas alit, ipsaque justo 

Laetior. Ah nimium ne sit mihi fertilis ilia, 

Neu se praevalidam primis ostendat aristis ! 

Quae gravis est, ipso tacitam se pondere prodit ; 

Quaeque levis. Promtum est oculis praediscere nigram, 

Et quis cui color. At sceleratum exquirere frigus 256 

Difficile est : picese tantum, taxique nocentes 

Interdum, aut hederae pandunt vestigia nigrae. 

His animadversis, terram multo ante memento 
Excoquere, et magnos scrobibus concidere montes, 2G0 
Ante supinatas aquiloni ostendere glebas, 
Quam laetum infodias vitis genus. Optima putri 
Arva solo : id venti curant, gelidaeque pruinae, 
Et labefacta movens robustus jugera fossor. 
At, si quos haud ulla viros vigilantia fugit, 265 

Ante locum similem exquirunt, ubi prima paretur 
Arboribus seges, et quo mox digesta feratur ; 
Mutatam ignorent subito ne semina matrem. 
Quin etiam cceli regionem in cortice signant ; 
Ut, quo quaeque modo steterit, qua parte calores 270 

Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi, 
Restituant : adeo in teneris consuescere multum est. 



GEORGICON LIB. II. 57 

Collibus, an piano melius sit ponere vitem, 
Quaere prius. Si pinguis agros metabere campi, 
Densa sere ; in denso non segnior ubere Bacchus : 275 
Sin tumulis acclive solum collesque supinos ; 
Indulge ordinibus, nee secius omnis in unguem 
Arboribus positis secto via limite quadret. 
Ut saepe, ingenti bello quum longa cohortes 
Explicuit legio, et campo stetit agmen aperto, 280 

Directaeque acies, ac late fluctuat omnis 
iEre renidenti tellus, nee dum horrida miscent 
Proelia, sed dubius mediis Mars errat in armis : 
Omnia sint paribus numeris dimensa viarum, 
Non animum modo uti pascat prospectus inanem ; 285 
Sed quia non aliter vires dabit omnibus aequas 
Terra, neque in vacuum poterunt se extend ere rami. 

Forsitan et, scrobibus quae sint fastigia, quaeras. 
Ausim vel tenui vitem committere sulco : 
Altior ac penitus terrae defigitur arbos ; 290 

iEsculus in primis, quae, quantum vertice ad auras 
iEtherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. 
Ergo non hiemes illam, non rlabra, neque imbres 
Convellunt ; immota manet, multosque nepotes, 
Multa virum volvens durando saecula, vincit : 295 

Turn, fortes late ramos et brachia tendens 
Hue illuc, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram. 

Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta cadentem; 
Neve inter vites corulum sere : neve flagella 
Summa pete, aut summa destringe ex arbore plantas ; 
Tantus amor terrae ! neu ferro laede retuso 301 

Semina; neve oleae silvestres insere truncos : 
Nam saepe incautis pastoribus excidit ignis, 
Qui, furtim pingui primum sub cortice tectus, 
Robora comprendit, frondesque elapsus in altas 305 

Ingentem ccelo sonitum dedit ; inde sequutus 
Per ramos victor perque alta cacumina regnat, 



58 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Et totum involvit flammis nemus, et ruit atram 

Ad coelum, picea crassus caligine, nubem : 

Praesertim si tempestas a vertice silvis 310 

Incubuit, glomeratque ferens incendia ventus. 

Hoc ubi, non a stirpe valent, caesaeque reverti 

Possunt, atque ima similes revirescere terra : 

Infelix superat foliis oleaster amaris. 

Nee tibi tarn prudens quisquam persuadeat auctor, 315 
Tellurem Borea. rigidam spirante moveri. 
Rura gelu turn claudit hiems, nee, semine jacto, 
Concretam patitur radicem affigere terrae. 
Optima vinetis satio, quum vere rubenti 
Candida venit avis, longis invisa colubris ; 320 

Prima vel auctumni sub frigora, quum rapidus Sol 
Nondum hiemem contingit equis, jam praeterit aestas. 
Ver adeo frondi nemorum, ver utile silvis : 
Vere tument terrae, et genitalia semina poscunt. 
Turn pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus iEther 325 
Conjugis in gremium laetae descendit, et omnes 
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, fcetus. 
Avia turn resonant avibus virgulta canoris, 
Et Venerem certis repetunt armenta diebus ; 
Parturit almus ager; Zephyrique tepentibus auris 330 
Laxant arva sinus ; superat tener omnibus humor; 
Inque novos soles audent se germina tuto 
Credere : nee metuit surgentes pampinus Austros, 
Aut actum ccelo magnis Aquilonibus imbrem ; 
Sed trudit gemmas, et frondes explicat omnes. 335 

Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi 
Illuxisse dies, aliumve habuisse tenorem 
Crediderim : ver illud erat ; ver magnus agebat 
Orbis, et hibernis parcebant flatibus Euri ; 
Quum primae lucem pecudes hausere, virumque 340 

Terrea progenies duris caput extulit arvis, 
Immissaeque ferae silvis, et sidera coelo. 



GEORGTCON LIU. II. 59 

Nec res hunc tenerae possent perferre laborem, 

Si non tanta quies iret frigusque caloremque 

Inter, et exciperet, coeli indulgentia terras. 345 

Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros, 
Sparge fimo pingui, et multa memor occule terra ; 
Aut lapidem bibulum, aut squalentes infode conchas: 
Inter enim labentur aquae, tenuisque subibit 
Halitus, atque animos tollent sata. Jamque reperti, 350 
Qui saxo super, atque ingentis pondere testae, 
Urguerent : hoc effusos munimen ad imbres ; 
Hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva. 

Semimbus positis, superest diducere terram 
Saepius ad capita, et duros jactare bidentes ; 355 

Aut presso exercere solum sub vomere, et ipsa 
Flectere luctantes inter vineta juvencos : 
Turn leves calamos, et rasae hastilia virgae, 
Fraxineasque aptare sudes, furcasque valentes : 
Viribus eniti quarum, et contemnere ventos 360 

Assuescant, summasque sequi tabulata per ulmos. 

Ac, dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, 
Parcendum teneris : et, dum se laetus ad auras 
Palmes agit, laxis per purum immissus habenis, 
Ipsa acie nondum falcis tentanda ; sed uncis 365 

Carpendae manibus frondes, interque legendae. 
Inde, ubi jam validis amplexae stirpibus ulmos 
Exierint, turn stringe comas, turn brachia tonde ; 
Ante reformidant ferrum : turn denique dura 
Exerce imperia, et ramos compesce fluentes. 370 

Texendae sepes etiam, et pecus omne tenendum, 
Praecipue dum frons tenera imprudensque laborum : 
Cui, super indignas hiemes solemque potentem, 
Silvestres uri assidue capreaeque sequaces 
Illudunt, pascuntur oves avidaeque juvencae. 375 

Frigora nec tantum cana concreta pruina, 
Aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus aestas, 



60 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Quantum illi nocuere greges, durique venenum 

Dentis, et admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix. 

Non aliam ob culpam Baccho caper omnibus aris 380 

Caeditur, et veteres ineunt proscenia ludi, 

Praemiaque ingeniis pagos et compita circum 

Thesidae posuere, atque inter pocula leeti 

Mollibus in pratis unctos saluere per utres. 

Nee non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni 385 

Versibus incomtis ludunt, risuque soluto, 

Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis ; 

Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta, tibique 

Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu. 

Hinc omnis largo pubescit vinea foetu ; 390 

Complentur vallesque cavae saltusque profundi, 

Et quocumque deus circum caput egit honestum. 

Ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus honorem 

Carminibus patriis, lancesque et liba feremus ; 

Et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram, 395 

Pinguiaque in veribus torrebimus exta colurnis. 

Est etiam ille labor curandis vitibus alter, 
Cui nunquam exhausti satis est : namque omne quotannis 
Terque quaterque solum scindendum, glebaque versis 
^Eternum frangenda bidentibus ; omne levandum 400 
Fronde nemus : redit agricolis labor actus in orbem, 
Atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus. 
Ac jam olim, seras posuit quum vinea frondes, 
Frigidus et silvis aquilo decussit honorem ; 
Jam turn acer curas venientem extendit in annum 405 
Rusticus, et curvo Saturni dente relictam 
Persequitur vitem attondens, iingitque putando. 
Primus humum fodito, primus devecta cremato 
Sarmenta, et vallos primus sub tecta referto ; 
Postremus metito. Bis vitibus ingruit umbra ; 410 

Bis segetem densis obducunt sentibus herbae ; 
Durus uterque labor. Laudato ingentia rura : 



GEORGICON LIB. II. 61 

Exiguum colito. Nee non etiam aspera rusci 

Vimina per silvara, et ripis fluvialis arundo 

Caeditur, incultique exercet cura salicti. 415 

Jam vinctae vites ; jam falcem arbusta reponunt; 

Jam canit extremos effoetus vinitor antes : 

Sollicitanda tamen tellus, pulvisque movendus ; 

Et jam maturis metuendus Jupiter uvis. 

Contra, non ulla est oleis cultura ; neque illae 420 

Procurvam exspectant falcem rastrosque tenaces, 
Q,uum semel haeserunt arvis, aurasque tulerunt. 
Ipsa satis tellus, quum dente recluditur unco, 
Sufficit humorem ; et gravidas, cum vomere, fruges. 
Hoc pinguem et placitam Paci nutritor olivam. 425 

Poma quoque, ut primum truncos sensere valentes, 
Et vires habuere suas, ad sidera raptim 
Vi propria nituntur, opisque haud indiga nostras. 

Nee minus interea fcetu nemus omne gravescit, 
Sanguineisque inculta rubent aviaria baccis. 430 

Tondentur cytisi, taedas silva alta ministrat, 
Pascunturque ignes nocturni, et lumina fundunt. 
Et dubitant homines serere, atque impendere curam ? 
Quid majora sequar 1 salices humilesque genestae, 
Aut illae pecori frondem, aut pastoribus umbras 435 

Sufficiunt ; sepemque satis, et pabula melli. 
Et juvat undantem buxo spectare Cytorum, 
Naryciasque picis lucos : juvat arva videre 
Non rastris, bominum non ulli obnoxia curae. 
Ipsae Caucasio steriles in vertice silvae, 440 

Quas animosi Euri assidue franguntque feruntque, 
Dant alios alias foetus ; dant utile lignum 
Navigiis pinos, domibus cedrumque cupressosque : 
Hinc radios trivere rotis, hinc tympana plaustris 
Agricolae, et pandas ratibus posuere carinas. 445 

Viminibus salices foecundae, frondibus ulmi, 
At myrtus validis hastilibus, et, bona bello, 

F 



62 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Cornus ; Ituraeos taxi torquentur in arcus. 

Nee tiliae leves aut torno rasile buxum 

Non formam accipiunt, ferroque cavantur acuto. 450 

Nee non et torrentem undam levis innatat alnus, 

Missa Pado ; nee non et apes exaraina condunt 

Corticibusque cavis vitiosaeque ilicis alveo. 

Quid memorandum aeque Bacchei'a dona tulerunt ? 

Bacchus et ad culpam caussas dedit : ille furentes 455 

Centauros leto domuit, Rhcetumque, Pholumque, 

Et magno Hylaeum Lapithis cratere minantem. 

O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, 
Agricolas ! quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis, 
Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus. 460 

Si non ingentem foribus domus alta superbis 
Mane salutantum totis vomit aedibus undam ; 
Nee varios inhiant pulchra testudine postes, 
Illusasque auro vestes, Ephyrei'aque aera ; 
Alba neque Assyrio fucatur lana veneno, 465 

Nee casia liquidi corrumpitur usus olivi : 
At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita, 
Dives opum variarum ; at latis otia fundis, 
Speluncae, vivique lacus ; at frigida Tempe, 
Mugitusque bourn, mollesque sub arbore somni 470 

Non absunt : illic saltus ac lustra ferarum, 
Et patiens operum, exiguoque assueta, juventus ; 
Sacra deum, sanctique patres : extrema per illos 
Justitia, excedens terris, vestigia fecit. 

Me vero primum, dulces ante omnia, Musae, 475 

Quarum sacra fero, ingenti percussus amore, 
Accipiant, ccelique vias et sidera monstrent ; 
Defectus solis varios, lunaeque labores ; 
Unde tremor terris ; qua vi maria alta tumescant 
Objicibus ruptis, rursusque in se ipsa residant ; 4S0 

Quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles 
Hiberni, vel quaa tardis mora noctibus obstet. 



GEORGICON LIB. II. 63 

Sin, has ne possim naturae accedere partes, 

Frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis ; 

Rura mihi, et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes : 485 

Flumina amem silvasque inglorius. 0, ubi campi, 

Spercheosque, et, virginibus bacchata Lacaenis, 

Taygeta ! O, qui me gelidis in vallibus Hasmi 

Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra. ! 

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere caussas ; 490 

Atque metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum, 
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari ! 
Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestes, 
Panaque, Silvanumque senem, Nymphasque sorores ! 
Ilium non populi fasces, non purpura regum 495 

Flexit, et infidos agitans discordia fratres, 
Aut conjurato descendens Dacus ab Istro ; 
Non res Romanae, perituraque regna : neque ille 
Aut doluit miserans inopem, aut invidit habenti. 
Quos rami fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura 500 

Sponte tulere sua, carpsit; nee ferreajura, 
Insanumque forum, aut populi tabularia vidit. 

Sollicitant alii remis freta caeca, ruuntque 
In feiTum ; penetrant aulas et limina regum : 
Hie petit excidiis urbem miserosque Penates, 505 

Ut gemma, bibat, et Sarrano indormiat ostro : 
Condit opes alius, defossoque incubat auro. 
Hie stupet attonitus rostris : hunc plausus hiantem 
Per cuneos (geminatus enim plebisque patrumque) 
Corripuit. Gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum, 510 

Exsilioque domos et dulcia limina mutant, 
Atque alio patriam quaerunt sub sole jacentem. 
Agricola incurvo terrain dimovit aratro : 
Hinc anni labor ; hinc patriam parvosque nepotes 
Sustinet; hinc armenta boum, meritosque juvencos. 515 
Nee requies, quin aut pomis exuberet annus, 
Aut fcetu pecorum, aut Cerealis mergite culmi ; 



64 GEORGICON LIB. II. 

Proventuque oneret sulcos, atque horrea vincat. 

Venit hiems : teritur Sicyonia bacca trapetis ; 

Glande sues laeti redeunt ; dant arbuta silvae ; 520 

Et varios ponit foetus auctumnus ; et alte 

Mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis. 

Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati ; 

Casta pudicitiam servat domus; ubera vaccge 

Lactea demittunt ; pinguesque in gramme laeto 525 

Inter se adversis luctantur cornibus haedi. 

Ipse dies agitat festos ; fususque per herbam, 

Ignis ubi in medio, et socii cratera coronant, 

Te, libans, Lenaee, vocat ; pecorisque magistris 

Velocis jaculi certamina ponit in ulmo ; 530 

Corporaque agresti nudant praedura palaestrae. 

Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini ; 
Hanc Remus et frater : sic fortis Etruria crevit ; 
Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma, 
Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces. 535 

Ante etiam sceptrum Dictaei regis, et ante 
Impia quam caesis gens est epulata juvencis, 
Aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat. 
Necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum, 
Impositos duris crepitare incudibus enses. 540 

Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus aequor, 
Et jam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla. 



P. VIRGILII MARONIS 

fiEORfil'CON. 

LIBER TERTIUS. 

Te quoque, magna Pales, et te, memorande, canemus, 
Pastor ab Amphryso ; vos, silvae arnnesque Lycaei. 
Cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, 
Omnia jam vulgata : quis aut Eurysthea durum, 
Aut illaudati nescit Busiridis aras 1 5 

Cui non dictus Hylas puer, et Latonia Delos ? 
Hippodameque, humeroque Pelops insignis eburno, 
Acer equis ] Tentanda via est, qua me quoque possim 
Tollere humo, victorque virum volitare per ora. 
Primus ego in patriam mecum, modo vita supersit, 10 
Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas : 
Primus Idumaeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas ; 
Et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponam 
Propter aquam, tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat 
Mincius, et tenera. praetexit arundine ripas. 15 

In medio mihi Caesar erit, templumque tenebit. 
Illi victor ego, et Tyrio conspectus in ostro, 
Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus. 
Cuncta mihi, Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi, 
Cursibus et crudo decern et Graecia cestu. 20 

Ipse, caput tonsae foliis ornatus olivae, 
Dona feram. Jam nunc sollemnes ducere pompas 
Ad delubra juvat, caesosque videre juvencos ; 
Vel scena ut versis discedat frontibus, utque 
Pui-purea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni. 25 

In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto 
Gangaridum faciam, victorisque anna Quirini ; 
F2 



66 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Atque hie undantem bello magnumque fluentem 

Nilum, ac navali surgentes aere columnas. 

Addam urbes Asiae domitas, pulsumque Niphaten, 30 

Fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis, 

Et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste tropaea, 

Bisque triumphatas utroque ab littore gentes. 

Stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa, 

Assaraci proles, demissaeque ab Jove gentis 35 

Nomina, Trosque parens, et Trojae Cynthius auctor. 

Invidia infelix furias amnemque severum 

Cocyti metuet, tortosque Ixionis angues 

Immanemque rotam, et non exsuperabile saxum. 

Interea Dryadum silvas saltusque sequamur 40 

Intactos, tua, Maecenas, haud mollia jussa. 

Te sine nil altum mens inchoat. En ! age, segnes 

Rumpe moras ; vocat ingenti clamore Cithaeron, 

Taygetique canes, domitrixque Epidaurus equorum : 

Et vox assensu nemorum ingeminata remugit. 45 

Mox tamen ardentes accingar dicere pugnas 

Caesaris, et nomen fama tot ferre per annos, 

Tithoni prima quot abest ab origine Caesar. 

Seu quis, Olympiacae miratus praemia palmae, 
Pascit equos ; seu quis fortes ad aratra juvencos ; 50 

Corpora praecipue matrum legat. Optima torvae 
Forma bovis, cui turpe caput, cui plurima cervix, 
Et crurum tenus a mento palearia pendent ; 
Turn longo nullus lateri modus ; omnia magna, 
Pes etiam; et camuris hirtae sub cornibus aures. 55 

Nee mihi displiceat maculis insignis et albo, 
Aut juga detrectans ; interdumque aspera cornu, 
Et faciem tauro propior ; quaeque ardua tota, 
Et gradiens ima verrit vestigia cauda. 
iEtas Lucinam justosque pati bymenaeos 60 

Desinit ante decern, post quatuor incipit annos : 
Cetera nee foeturas habilis, nee fortis aratris. 



GEORGICON LIB. III. 67 

Interea, superat gregibus dum laeta juventas, 

Solve mares ; mitte in Venerem pecuaria primus, 

Atque aliam ex alia generando suffice prolem. 65 

Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus sevi 

Prima fugit : subeunt morbi, tristisque senectus, 

Et labor, et dura? rapit inclementia mortis. 

Semper erunt, quarum mutari corpora malis : 

Semper enim refice ; ac, ne post amissa requiras, 70 

Anteveni, et sobolem armento sortire quotannis. 

Nee non et pecori est idem dilectus equino. 
Tu modo, quos in spem statues submittere gentis, 
Praecipuum jam inde a teneris impende laborem. 
Continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis 75 

Altius ingreditur, et mollia crura reponit. 
Primus et ire viam, et fluvios tentare minaces 
Audet, et ignoto sese committere ponti ; 
Nee vanos horret strepitus. Illi ardua cervix, 
Argutumque caput, brevis alvus, obesaque terga ; 80 

Luxuriatque toris animosum pectus. Honesti 
Spadices, glaucique : color deterrimus albis, 
Et gilvo. Turn, si qua sonum procul arma dedere, 
Stare loco nescit ; micat auribus, et tremit artus ; 
Collectumque fremens volvit sub naribus ignem : 85 

Densa juba, et dextro jactata recumbit in armo; 
At duplex agitur per lumbos spina ; cavatque 
Tellurem, et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. 
Talis, Amyclaei domitus Pollucis habenis, 
Cyllarus, et, quorum Graii meminere poetag, 90 

Martis equi bijuges, et magni currus Achilli : 
Talis et ipse jubam cervice effudit equina, 
Conjugis adventu pernix, Saturnus, et altum 
Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto. 

Hunc quoque, ubi aut morbo gravis, aut jam segnior 
annis, 95 

Deficit, abde domo ; nee turpi ignosce senectae. 



68 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Frigidus in Venerem senior, frustraque laborem 

Ingratum trahit ; et, si quando ad prcelia ventum est, 

Ut quondam in stipulis magnus sine viribus ignis, 

Incassum furit. Ergo animos aevumque notabis 100 

Praecipue ; hinc alias artes, prolemque parentum, 

Et quis cuique dolor victo, quae gloria palmae. 

Nonne vides, quum praecipiti certamine campum 

Corripuere, ruuntque efFusi carcere currus ; 

Quum spes arrectae juvenum, exsultantiaque baurit 105 

Corda pavor pulsans 1 illi instant verbere torto, 

Et proni dant lora : volat vi fervidus axis : 

Jamque humiles, jamque elati sublime videntur 

Aera per vacuum ferri, atque assurgere in auras. 

Nee mora, nee requies; at fulvae nimbus arenae 110 

Tollitur ; humescunt spumis flatuque sequentum : 

Tantus amor laudum, tantae est victoria curae. 

Primus Erichthonius currus et quatuor ausus 

Jungere equos, rapidusque rotis insistere victor. 

Frena Pelethronii Lapithae gyrosque dedere, 115 

Impositi dorso, atque equitem docuere sub armis 

Insultare solo, et gressus glomerare superbos. 

^Equus uterque labor : aeque juvenemque magistri 

Exquirunt, calidumque animis, et cursibus acrem ; 

Quamvis saepe fuga. versos ille egerit hostis, 120 

Et patriam Epirum referat, fortesque Mycenas, 

Neptunique ipsa deducat origine gentem. 

His animadversis, instant sub tempus, et omnes 
Impendunt curas denso distendere pingui, 
Quern legere ducem, et pecori dixere maritum ; 125 

Pubentesque secant herbas, fluviosque ministrant, 
Farraque ; ne blando nequeat superesse labori, 
Invalidique patrum referant jejunia nati. 
Ipsa autem macie tenuant armenta volentes ; 
Atque, ubi concubitus primos jam nota voluptas 130 

Sollicitat, frondesque negant, et fontibus arcent ; 



GEORGICON LIB. III. 69 

Saepe etiam cursu quatiunt, et sole fatigant, 

Quum graviter tunsis gemit area fru gibus, et quum 

Surgentem ad Zephyrum paleae jactantur inanes. 

Hoc faciunt, nimio ne luxu obtusior usus 135 

Sit genitali arvo, et sulcos oblimet inertes ; 

Sed rapiat sitiens Venerem, interiusque recondat. 

Rursus cura patrum cadere, et succedere matrum 
Incipit. Exactis gravidas quum mensibus errant, 
Non illas gravibus quisquam juga ducere plaustris, 140 
Non saltu superare viam sit passus, et acri 
Carpere prata fuga, fluviosque innare rapaces. 
Saltibus in vacuis pascunt, et plena secundum 
Flumina : muscus ubi, et viridissima gramine ripa ; 
Speluncaeque tegant, et saxea procubet umbra. 145 

Est lucos Silari circa, ilicibusque virentem, 
Plurimus, Alburnum, volitans, cui nomen asilo 
Romanum est, oestrum Graii vertere vocantes ; 
Asper, acerba sonans ; quo tota exterrita silvis 
Diffugiunt armenta : furit mugitibus aether 150 

Concussus, silvaeque, et sicci ripa Tanagri. 
Hoc quondam monstro horribiles exercuit iras, 
Inachiae, Juno, pestem meditata juvencae. 
Hunc quoque, nam mediis fervoribus acrior instat, 
Arcebis gravido pecori, armentaque pasces 155 

Sole recens orto, aut noctem ducentibus astris. 

Post partum, cura in vitulos traducitur omnis : 
Continuoque notas et nomina gentis inurunt, 
Et quos aut pecori malint submittere habendo, 
Aut aris servare sacros, aut scindere terram, 160 

Et campum horrentem fractis invertere glebis. 
Cetera pascantur virides armenta per herbas. 
Tu, quos ad studium atque usum formabis agrestem, 
Jam vitulos hortare, viamque insiste domandi, 
Dum faciles animi juvenum, dum mobilis aetas. 165 

Ac primum laxos tenui de vimine circlos 



70 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Cervici subnecte ; dehinc, ubi libera colla 

Servitio assuerint, ipsis e torquibus aptos 

Junge pares, et coge gradum conferre juvencos. 

Atque illis jam saepe rota3 ducantur inanes 170 

Per terrain, et summo vestigia pulvere signent : 

Post valido nitens sub pondere faginus axis 

Instrepat, et junctos temo trahat aereus orbes. 

Interea pubi indomitae non gramina tantum, 

Nee vescas salicum frondes, ulvamque palustrem, 175 

Sed frumenta manu carpes sata. Nee tibi fcetae, 

More patrum, nivea implebunt mulctraria vaccae, 

Sed tota in dulces consument ubera natos. 

Sin ad bella raagis studium turraasque feroces, 
Aut Alphea rotis praelabi flumina Pisae, 180 

Et Jovis in luco currus agitare volantes ; 
Primus equi labor est, aniraos atque arma videre 
Bellantum, lituosque pati ; tractuque gementem 
Ferre rotam, et stabulo frenos audire sonantes ; 
Turn magis atque magis blandis gaudere magistri 185 
Laudibus, et plausae sonitum cervicis.amare. 
Atque baec jam primo depulsus ab ubere matris 
Audeat, inque vicem det mollibus ora capistris 
Invalidus, etiamque tremens, etiam inscius aevi. 
At, tribus exactis, ubi quarta accesserit aestas, 190 

Carpere mox gyrum incipiat, gradibusque sonare 
Compositis, sinuetque alterna volumina crurum ; 
Sitque laboranti similis ; turn cursibus auras, 
Turn vocet, ac, per aperta volans, ceu liber habenis, 
JEquora, vix summa vestigia ponat arena : 195 

Qualis Hyperboreis Aquilo quum densus ab oris 
Incubuit, Scythiaeque hiemis atque arida differt 
Nubila : turn segetes altae campique natantes 
Lenibus horrescunt flabris, summaeque sonorem 
Dant silvae, longique urguent ad littora fluctus : 200 

IUe volat, simul arva fuga, simul aequora verrens. 



GEORGIOON LIB. III. 71 

Hie vel ad Elei metas et maxima campi 

Sudabit spatia, et spumas aget ore cruentas; 

Belgica vel molli melius feret esseda collo. 

Turn demum crassa magnum farragine corpus 205 

Crescere, jam domitis, sinito ; namque ante domandum 

Ingentes tollent animos, prensique negabunt 

Verbera lenta pati, et duris parere lupatis. 

Sed non ulla magis vires industria firmat, 
Quam Venerem et ceeci stimulos avertere amoris, 210 
Sive bourn, sive est cui gratior usus equorum. 
Atque ideo tauros procul atque in sola relegant 
Pascua, post montem oppositum, et trans flumina lata; 
Aut intus clausos satura ad praesepia servant. 
Carpit enim vires paullatim, uritque videndo, 215 

Femina ; nee nemorum patitur meminisse, nee herbae : 
Dulcibus ilia quidem illecebris et saepe superbos 
Cornibus inter se subigit decern ere amantes. 
Pascitur in magna silva formosa juvenca : 
Illi alternantes multa vi proelia miscent 220 

Vulneribus crebris ; lavit ater corpora sanguis ; 
Versaque in obnixos urguentur cornua vasto 
Cum gemitu : reboant silvaeque et longus Olympus. 
Nee mos bellantes una stabulare : sed alter 
Victus abit, longeque ignotis exsulat oris ; 225 

Multa gemens ignominiam, plagasque superbi 
Victoris, turn, quos amisit inultus, amores ; 
Et stabula aspectans regnis excessit avitis. 
Ergo omni cura vires exercet, et inter 
Dura jacet pernix instrato saxa cubili, 230 

Frondibus hirsutis et carice pastus acuta ; 
Et tentat sese, atque irasci in cornua discit 
Arboris obnixus trunco, ventosque lacessit 
Ictibus, et sparsa ad pugnam proludit arena. 
Post, ubi collectum robur, viresque refecta?, 235 

Signa movet, praecepsque oblitum fertur in hostem : 



72 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Fluctus uti medio coepit quum albescere ponto, 

Longius, ex altoque sinum trahit ; utque, volutus 

Ad. terras, immane sonat per saxa, neque ipso 

Monte minor procumbit ; at ima exaestuat unda 240 

Verticibus, nigramque alte subjectat arenam. 

Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque, 
Et genus aequoreum, pecudes, pictaeque volucres, 
In furias ignemque ruunt : amor omnibus idem. 
Tempore non alio, catulorum oblita, leaena 245 

Saevior erravit campis ; nee fun era vulgo 
Tam multa informes ursi stragemque dedere 
Per silvas : turn saevus aper, turn pessima tigris. 
Heu ! male turn Libyae solis erratur in agris. 
Nonne vides, ut tota tremor pertentet equorum 250 

Corpora, si tantum not as odor attulit auras 1 
Ac neque eos jam frena virum, neque verbera sseva, 
Non scopuli rupesque cavae, atque objecta retardant 
Flumina, correptos unda torquentia montes. 
Ipse ruit dentesque Sabellicus exacuit sus, 255 

Et pede prosubigit terram, fricat arbore costas, 
Atque hinc atque illinc humeros ad vulnera durat. 
Quid juvenis, magnum eui versat in ossibus ignem 
Duras amor 1 Nempe abruptis turbata procellis 
Nocte natat caeca serus freta ; quem super ingens 260 
Porta tonat cceli, et scopulis illisa reclamant 
JEquora; nee miseri possunt revocare parentes, 
Nee moritura super crudeli funere virgo. 
Quid lynces Bacchi variae, et genus acre luporum, 
Atque canum ] quid, quae imbelles dant proelia cervi I 

Scilicet ante omnes furor est insignis equarum ; 266 
Et mentem Venus ipsa dedit, quo tempore GHauci 
Potniades malis membra absumsere quadrigae. 
Illas ducit amor trans Gargara, transque sonantem 
Ascanium : superant montes, et flumina tranant. 270 

Continuoque, avidis ubi subdita flamma medullis, 



GEORGICON LIB. III. 73 

Vere magis, quia vere calor redit ossibus, illae 
Ore omnes versae in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis, 
Exceptantque leves auras ; et saepe sine ullis 
Conjugiis, vento gravidas, mirabile dictu ! 275 

Saxa per, et scopulos, et depressas convalles 
Diffugiunt ; non, Eure, tuos, neque Solis ad ortus ; 
In Borean Caurumque, aut unde nigerrimus Auster 
Nascitur, et pluvio contristat frigore caelum. 
Hinc demum, hippomanes vero quod nomine dicunt 280 
Pastores, lentum destillat ab inguine virus ; 
Hippomanes, quod saepe malae legere novercae, 
Miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba. 

Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus, 
Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore. 286 

Hoc satis armentis. Superat pars altera curse, 
Lanigeros agitare greges, hirtasque capellas. 
Hie labor ; hinc laudem fortes sperate coloni. 
Nee sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere magnum 
Quam sit, et angustis hunc addere rebus honorem. 290 
Sed me Parnassi deserta per ardua dulcis 
Raptat amor : juvat ire jugis, qua nulla priorum 
Castaliam molli devertitur orbita clivo. 

Nunc, veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore sonandum. 
Incipiens, stabulis edico in mollibus herbam 29 5 

Carpere oves, dum mox frondosa reducitur aestas ; 
Et multa duram stipula filicumque maniplis 
Sternere subter humum, glacies ne frigida lasdat 
Molle pecus, scabiemque ferat, turpesque podagras. 
Post, hinc digressus, jubeo frondentia capris 300 

Arbuta sufficere, et fluvios praebere recentes ; 
Et stabula a ventis hiberno opponere soli, 
Ad medium conversa diem : dum frigid us olim 
Jam cadit, extremoque irrorat Aquarius anno. 
Hae quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae, 305 

Nee minor usus erit : quamvis Milesia magno 

G 



74 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Vellera mutentur Tyrios incocta rubores. 
Densior hinc soboles ; hinc largi copia lactis. 
Quam magis exhausto spumaverit ubere mulctra, 
Laeta magis pressis manabunt flumina mammis. 310 

Nee minus interea barbas incanaque menta 
Cinyphii tondent hirci, seetasque comantes, 
Usum in castrorum, et miseris velamina nautis. 
Pascuntur vero silvas, et summa Lycsei, 
Horrentesque rubos, et amantes ardua dumos ; 315 

Atque ipsae memores redeunt in tecta, suosque 
Ducunt, et gravido superant vix ubere limen. 
Ergo omni studio glaciem ventosque nivales, 
Quo minus est illis curee mortalis egestas, 
Avertes ; victumque feres et virgea lsetus 320 

Pabula ; nee tota claudes foenilia bruma. 
At vero, Zephyris quum laeta vocantibus aestas 
In saltus utrumque gregem, atque in pascua mittet, 
Luciferi primo cum sidere frigida rura 
Carpamus, dum mane novum, dum gramina canent, 325 
Et ros in tenera. pecori gratissimus herba. 
Inde, ubi quarta sitim cosli collegerit hora, 
Et cantu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadae, 
Ad puteos aut alta greges ad stagna jubeto 
Currentem ilignis potare canalibus undam ; 330 

iEstibus at mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem, 
Sicubi magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus 
Ingentes tendat ramos ; aut sicubi nigrum 
Ilicibus crebris sacra nemus accubet umbra : 
Turn tenues dare rursus aquas, et pascere rursus 335 
Solis ad occasum, quum frigidus aera vespei 
Temperat, et saltus reficit jam roscida luna, 
Littoraque alcyonen resonant, acalanthida dumi. 
Quid tibi pastores Libyae, quid pascua versu 
Prosequar, et raris habitata mapalia tectis ? 340 

Saepe diem noctemque, et totum ex ordine mensem, 



GEORGICON LIB. III. 75 

Pascitur itque pecus longa in deserta sine ullis 
Hospitiis : tantum campi jacet. Omnia secum 
Arraentarius Afer agit, tectumque, Laremque, 
Arraaque, Amyclaeumque canem, Cressamque pharetram : 
Non secus ac patriis acer Romanus in armis, 346 

Injusto sub fasce viam quum carpit, et hosti 
Ante exspectatum positis stat in agmine castris. 

At non, qua Scythiae gentes, Maeotiaque unda, 
Turbidus et torquens flaventes Ister arenas, 350 

Quaque redit medium Rhodope porrecta sub axem. 
Illic clausa tenent stabulis armenta ; neque ullee 
Aut herbal campo apparent, aut arbore frondes : 
Sed jacet aggeribus niveis informis et alto 
Terra gelu late, septemque assurgit in ulnas : 355 

Semper hiems, semper spirantes frigora Cauri. 
Turn sol pallentes haud unquam discutit umbras ; 
Nee quum invectus equis altum petit aethera, nee quum 
Praecipitem Oceani rubro lavit asquore currum. 
Concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae, 360 

Undaque jam tergo ferratos sustinet orbes, 
Puppibus ilia prius, patulis nunc hospita plaustris 
JEraque dissiliunt vulgo, vestesque rigescunt 
Indutae, caeduntque securibus humida vina, 
Et totae solidam in glaciem vertere lacunae, 365 

Stiriaque impexis induruit horrida barbis. 
Interea toto non secius aere ningit ; 
Intereunt pecudes, stant circumfusa pruinis 
Corpora magna bourn ; confertoque agmine cervi 
Torpent mole nova, et summis vix cornibus exstant. 370 
Hos non immissis canibus, non cassibus ullis, 
Puniceaeve agitant pavidos formidme pinnae : 
Sed frustra oppositum trudentes pectore montem 
Com minus obtruncant ferro, graviterque rudentes 
Caedunt, et magno laeti clamore reportant. 375 

Ipsi in defossis specubus secura sub alta 



76 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Otia agunt terra, congestaque robora totasque 

Advolvere focis ulmos, ignique dedere. 

Hie noctem ludo ducunt, et pocula laeti 

Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis. 380 

Talis, Hyperboreo Septem subjecta trioni, 

Gens effrena virum Rhipaeo tunditur Euro, 

Et pecudura fulvis velatur corpora saetis. 

Si tibi lanitium curae, primum aspera silva, 
Lappaeque tribiilique absint; fuge pabula laeta; 386 

Continuoque greges villis lege mollibus albos. 
Ilium autem, quamvis aries sit candidus ipse, 
Nigra subest udo tantum cui lingua palato, 
Rejice, ne maculis infuscet vellera pullis 
Nascentum ; plenoque alium circumspice campo. 390 
Munere sic niveo lanae, si credere dignum est, 
Pan deus Arcadiae captam te, Luna, fefellit, 
In nemora alta vocans ; nee tu aspernata vocantem. 

At, cui lactis amor, cytisum, lotosque frequentes 
Ipse manu, salsasque ferat praesepibus herbas. 395 

Hinc et amant fluvios magis, ac magis ubera tendunt, 
Et salis occultum referunt in lacte saporem. 
Multi jam excretos prohibent a matribus haedos, 
Primaque ferratis praefigunt ora capistris. 
Quod surgente die mulsere horisque diumis, 400 

Nocte premunt: quod jam tenebris et sole cadente, 
Sub lucem exportans calathis, adit oppida pastor ; 
Aut parco sale contingunt, hiemique reponunt. 

Nee tibi cura canum fuerit postrema: sed una 
Veloces Spartae catulos, acremque Molossum, 405 

Pasce sero pingui. Nunquam, custodibus illis, 
Nocturnum stabulis furem, incursusque luporum, 
Aut impacatos a tergo horrebis Iberos. 
Saepe etiam cursu timidos agitabis onagros, 
Et canibus leporem, canibus venabere damas. 410 

Saepe, volutabris pulsos silvestribus, apros 



GEORGICON LIB. III. 77 

Latratu turbabis agens, mOntesque per altos 
Ingentem clamore premes ad retia cervum. 

Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum, 
Galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros. 415 

Saepe sub immotis praesepibus, aut, mala tactu, 
Vipera delituit, coelumque exteirita fugit ; 
Aut, tecto assuetus coluber succedere et umbrae, 
Pestis acerba boum, pecorique aspergere virus, 
Fovit humum. Cape saxa manu, cape robora, pastor, 
Tollentemque minas et sibila colla tumentem 421 

Dejice : jamque fuga. timidum caput abdidit alte, 
Quum medii nexus extremaeque agmina caudae 
Solvuntur, tardosque trahit sinus ultimus orbis. 
Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus anguis, 425 

Squamea convolvens sublato pectore terga, 
Atque notis longam maculosus grandibus alvum : 
Qui, dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus, et dum 
Vere madent udo terrae ac pluvialibus austris, 
Stagna colit ; ripisque habitans, hie piscibus atram 430 
Improbus ingluviem ranisque loquacibus explet; 
Postquam exusta palus, terraeque ardore dehiscunt, 
Exsilit in siccum, et, flammantia lumina torquens, 
Saevit agris, asperque siti, atque exterritus aestu. 
Ne mihi turn molles sub divo carpere somnos, 435 

Neu dorso nemoris libeat jacuisse per herbas ; 
Quum, positis novus exuviis, nitidusque juventa, 
Volvitur, aut catulos tectis aut ova relinquens, 
Arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ora trisulcis. 

Morborum quoque te causas et signa docebo. 440 

Turpis oves tentat scabies, ubi frigidus imber 
Altius ad vivum persedit, et horrida cano 
Bruma gelu ; vel quum tonsis illotus adhaesit 
Sudor, et hirsuti secuerunt corpora vepres. 
Dulcibus idcirco fluviis pecus omne magistri 445 

Perfundunt, udisque aries in gurgite villis 



78 GEORGICON LIB. HI. 

Mersatur, missusque secundo defluit amni ; 

Aut tonsum tristi contingunt corpus araurca, 

Et spumas miscent argenti, et sulfura viva, 

Idaeasque pices, et pingues unguine ceras, 4o0 

Scillamque, elleborosque graves, nigrumque bitumen. 

Non tamen ulla magis praesens fortuna laborum est, 

Quam si quis ferro potuit rescindere sumraum 

Ulceris os : alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo, 

Dura medicas adhibere manus ad vulnera pastor 455 

Abnegat, aut meliora deos sedet omina poscens. 

Quin etiam, ima dolor balantum lapsus ad ossa 

Quum furit, atque artus depascitur arida febris, 

Profuit incensos aestus avertere, et inter 

Ima ferire pedis salientem sanguine venam : 460 

Bisaltae quo more solent, acerque Gelonus, 

Quum fugit in Rhodopen, atque in deserta Getarum, 

Et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino. 

Quam procul aut molli succedere saepius umbrae 
Videris, aut summas carpentem ignavius herbas, 465 
Extremamque sequi, aut medio procumbere campo 
Pascentem, et serae solam decedere nocti ; 
Continuo culpam ferro compesce, priusquam 
Dira per incautum serpant contagia vulgus. 
Non tarn creber, agens hiemem, ruit aequore turbo, 470 
Quam multae pecudum pestes : nee singula morbi 
Corpora corripiunt ; sed tota aestiva repente, 
Spemque gregemque simul, cunctamque ab origine gen- 

tem. 
Turn sciat, aerias Alpes et Norica si quis 
Castella in tumulis et Iapydis arva Timavi, 475 

Nunc quoque post tanto videat, desertaque regna 
Pastorum, et longe saltus lateque vacantes. 

Hie quondam morbo cceli miseranda coorta est 
Tempestas, totoque auctumni incanduit aestu, 
Et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum ; 480 



GEORGICON LIB. III. 79 

CoiTupitque lacus ; infecit pabula tabo. 

Nee via mortis erat simplex ; sed, ubi ignea venis 

Omnibus acta sitis miseros adduxerat artus, 

Rursus abundabat fluidus liquor, omniaque in se 

Ossa minutatim morbo collapsa trahebat. 485 

Saspe in honore deum medio stans hostia ad aram, 

Lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta, 

Inter cunctantes cecidit moribunda ministros : 

Aut, si quam ferro mactaverat ante sacerdos, 

Inde neque impositis ardent altaria fibris, 490 

Nee responsa potest consultus reddere vates ; 

Ac vix suppositi tinguntur sanguine cultri, 

Summaque jejuna sanie infuscatur arena. 

Hinc laetis vituli vulgo moriuntur in herbis, 

Et dulces animas plena ad prassepia reddunt. 495 

Hinc canibus blandis rabies venit, et quatit aegros 

Tussis anhela sues, ac faucibus angit obesis. 

Labitur infelix, studiorum at que immemor herbae, 

Victor equus, fontesque avertitur, et pede terram 

Crebra ferit : demissae aures ; incertus ibidem 500 

Sudor, et ille quidem morituris frigidus ; aret 

Pellis, et ad tactum tractanti dura resistit. 

Hasc ante exitium primis dant signa diebus. 

Sin in processu ccepit crudescere morbus, 

Turn vero ardentes oculi, atque attractus ab alto 505 

Spiritus, interdum gemitu gravis ; imaque longo 

Ilia singultu tendunt ; it naribus ater 

Sanguis, et obsessas fauces premit aspera lingua. 

Profuit inserto latices infundere cornu 

Lenseos : ea visa salus morientibus una. 510 

Mox erat hoc ipsum exitio, furiisque refecti 

Ardebant, ipsique suos, jam morte sub aegra, 

(Di meliora piis, erroremque hostibus ilium!) 

Discissos nudis laniabant dentibus artus. 

Ecce autem, duro fumans sub vomere, taurus 515 



80 GEORGICON LIB. III. 

Concidit, et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem, 
Extremosque ciet gemitus. It tristis arator, 
Moerentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum ; 
Atque opere in medio defixa reliquit aratra. 
Non umbrae altorum nemorum, non mollia possunt 520 
Prata movere animum ; non, qui per saxa volutus, 
Purior electro, campum petit, amnis : at ima 
Solvuntur latera, atque oculos stupor urget inertes, 
Ad terramque fluit devexo pondere cervix. 
Quid labor, aut benefacta juvant V quid vomere terras 
Invertisse graves ? atqui non Massica Bacchi 526 

Munera, non illis epulae nocuere repostae : 
Frondibus, et victu pascuntur simplicis herbae ; 
Pocula sunt fontes liquidi, atque exercita cursu 
Flumina : nee somnos abrumpit cura salubres. 530 

Tempore non alio dicunt regionibus illis 
Quaesitas ad sacra boves Junonis, et uris 
Imparibus ductos alta ad donaria currus. 

Ergo aegre rastris terram rimantur, et ipsis 
Unguibus infodiunt fruges, montesque per altos 535 

Contenta. cervice trahunt stridentia plaustra. 
Non lupus insidias explorat ovilia circum, 
Nee gregibus nocturnus obambulat : acrior ilium 
Cura domat. Timidi damae, cervique fugaces 
Nunc interque canes et circum tecta vagantur. 540 

Jam maris immensi prolem, et genus omne natantum, 
Littore in extremo, ceu naufraga corpora, fluctus 
Proluit ; insolitas fugiunt in flumina phocae. 
Interit et, curvis frustra defensa latebris, 
Vipera, et attoniti squamis astantibus hydri. 545 

Ipsis est aer avibus non aequus, et illae 
Praecipites alta vitam sub nube relinquunt. 
Prasterea, jam nee mutari pabula refert, 
Quaesitaeque nocent artes ; cessere magistri, 
Phillyrides Chiron. Amythaoniusque Melampus. 550 



GEORGICON LIB. lit. 81 

SaBvit, et, in lucem Stygiis emissa tenebris 
Pallida Tisiphone, Morbos agit ante, Meturaque ; 
Inque dies avidum surgens caput altius effert. 
Balatu pecorum et crebris mugitibus amnes, 
Arentesque sonant ripae, collesque supini. 555 

Jamque catervatim dat stragem, atque aggerat ipsis 
In stabulis turpi dilapsa cadavera tabo ; 
Donee humo tegere, ac foveis abscondere discunt : 
Nam neque erat coriis usus ; nee viscera quisquam 
Aut undis abolere potest, aut vincere flamma ; 560 

Nee tondere quidem, morbo illuvieque peresa, 
Vellera ; nee telas possunt attingere putres. 
Verum eiiam, invisos si quis tentarat amictus, 
Ardentes papulae, atque immundus olentia sudor 
Membra sequebatur ; nee longo deinde moranti 565 

Tempore contactos artus sacer ignis edebat. 



P. VIRGILII MARONIS 

GEORGICON. 



LIBER QUARTUS. 

Protenus aerii mellis coelestia dona 

Exsequar: hanc etiam, Maecenas, aspice partem. 

Admiranda tibi levium spectacula rerum, 

Magnanimosque duces, totiusque ordine gentis 

Mores, et studia, et populos, et prcelia dicam. 5 

In tenui labor : at tenuis non gloria, si quem 

Numina Iseva sinunt, auditque vocatus Apollo 

Principio, sedes apibus statioque petenda, 
Quo neque sit ventis aditus (nam pabula venti . 
Ferre domum prohibent), neque oves haedique petulci 10 
Floribus insultent, aut errans bucula campo 
Decutiat rorem, et surgentes atterat herbas. 
Absint et picti squalentia terga lacerti 
Pinguibus a stabulis, meropesque, aliaeque volucres, 
Et manibus Procne pectus signata cruentis. 15 

Omnia nam late vastant, ipsasque volantes 
Ore ferunt dulcem nidis immitibus escam. 
At liquidi fontes et stagna virentia musco 
Adsint, et tenuis, fugiens per gramina, rivus ; 
Palmaque vestibulum aut ingens oleaster inumbret ; 20 
Ut, quum prima novi ducent examina reges 
Vere suo, ludetque favis emissa juventus, 
Vicina invitet decedere ripa calori, 
Obviaque hospitiis teneat frondentibus arbos. 

In medium, seu stabit iners, seu profluet humor, 25 
Transversas salices et grandia conjice saxa ; 
Pontibus ut crebris possint consistere, et alas 



GEORGICON LIB. IV. 83 

Pandere ad aestivum solem, si forte morantes 
Sparserit, aut praeceps Neptuno immerserit Eurus. 
Haec circum, casiae virides, et olentia late 30 

Serpylla, et graviter spirantis copia thymbrae 
Floreat, irriguumque bibant violaria fontem. 

Ipsa autem, seu corticibus tibi suta cavatis, 
Seu lento fuerint alvearia vimine texta, 
Angustos habeant aditus ; nam frigore mella 35 

Cogit hiems, eaderaque calor liquefacta remittit : 
Utraque vis apibus pariter metuenda ; neque illae 
Nequidquam in tectis certatim tenuia cera. 
Spiramenta linunt, fucoque et floribus oras 
Explent, collectumque haec ipsa ad munera gluten, 40 
Et visco et Phrygiae servant pice lentius Idae. 
Saepe etiam effossis, si vera est fama, latebris 
Sub terra, fovere larem, penitusque repertae 
Pumicibusque cavis exesaeque arboris antro. 
Tu tamen e levi riraosa cubilia limo 45 

Unge fovens circum, et raras super injice frondes. 
Neu propius tectis taxum sine ; neve rubentes 
Ure foco cancros ; altae neu crede paludi, 
Aut ubi odor cceni gravis, aut ubi concava pulsu 
Saxa sonant, vocisque offensa resultat imago. 50 

Quod superest, ubi pulsam hiemem Sol aureus egit 
Sub terras, ccelumque aestiva luce reclusit ; 
Illae continuo saltus silvasque peragrant, 
Purpureosque metunt flores, et flumina libant 
Summa leves. Hinc, nescio qua. dulcedine laetae, 55 

Progeniem nidosque fovent : hinc arte recentes 
Excudunt ceras, et mella tenacia fingunt. 
Hinc, ubi jam emissum caveis ad sidera cceli 
Nare per aestatem liquidam suspexeris agmen, 
Obscuramque trahi vento mirabere nubem, 60 

Contemplator : aquas dulces, et frondea semper 
Tecta petunt. Hue tu jussos asperge sapores, 



84 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Trita melisphylla, et cerinthae ignobile gramen ; 
Tinnitusque cie, et Matris quate cymbala circum : 
Ipsae consident medicatis sedibus ; ipsae 65 

Intima more suo sese in cunabula condent. 

Sin autem ad pugnara exierint (nam saepe duobus 
Regibus incessit magno discordia motu, 
Continuoque animos vulgi et trepidantia bello 
Corda licet longe praesciscere : namque morantes 70 

Martius ille aeris rauci canor increpat, et vox 
Auditur fractos sonitus imitata tubarum ; 
Turn trepidae inter se coeunt, pennisque coruscant, 
Spiculaque exacuunt rostris, aptantque lacertos, 
Et, circa regem, atque ipsa ad praetoria, densae 75 

Miscentur, magnisque vocant clamoribus hostem) — 
Ergo, ubi ver nactae sudum camposque patentes, 
Erumpunt portis ; concurritur ; aethere in alto 
Fit sonitus ; magnum mixtae glomerantur in orbem, 
Praecipitesque cadunt (non densior aere grando, 80 

Nee de concussa tantum pluit ilice glandis. 
Ipsi per medias acies, insignibus alis, 
Ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant, 
Usque adeo obnixi non cedere, dum gravis aut hos, 
Aut hos, versa fuga. victor dare terga subegit). 85 

Hi motus animorum, atque haec certamina tanta, 
Pulveris exigui jactu compressa, quiescent. 

Verum, ubi ductores acie revocaveris ambos, 
Deterior qui visus, eum, ne prodigus obsit, 
Dede neci; melior vacua sine regnet in aula. 90 

Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens; 
Nam duo sunt genera : hie melior, insignis et ore, 
Et rutilis clarus squamis ; ille horridus alter 
Desidia, latamque trahens inglorius alvum. 
Ut binae regum facies, ita corpora plebis : 95 

Namque aliae turpes horrent ; ceu, pulvere ab alto 
Quum venit, et sicco terram spuit ore viator 



GEORGICON LIB. IV. 85 

Aridus ; elucent aliae, et fulgore coruscant, 

Ardentes auro et paribus Hta corpora guttis. 

Haec potior soboles : hinc cceli tempore certo 100 

Dulcia mella premes ; nee tantum dulcia, quantum 

Et liquida, et durum Bacchi domitura saporem. 

At, quum incerta volant coeloque examina ludunt, 
Contemnuntque favos, et frigida tecta relinquunt, 
Instabiles animos ludo prohibebis inani. 105 

Nee magnus prohibere labor : tu regibus alas 
Eripe : non illis quisquam cunctantibus altum 
Ire iter, aut castris audebit vellere signa. 
Invitent croceis halantes floribus horti, 
Et, custos furum atque avium, cum falce saligna 110 

Hellespontiaci servet tutela Priapi. 
Ipse, thymum pinosque ferens de montibus altis, 
Tecta serat late circum, cui talia curse : 
Ipse labore manum duro terat ; ipse feraces 
Figat humo plantas, et amicos irriget imbres. 115 

Atque equidem, extremo ni jam sub fine laborum 
Vela traham, et terris festinem advertere proram, 
Forsitan et, pingues hortos quae cura colendi 
Ornaret, canerem, biferique rosaria Psesti ; 
Quoque modo potis gauderent intuba rivis, 120 

Et virides apio ripae ; tortusque per herbam 
Cresceret in ventrem cucumis : nee sera comantem 
Narcissum, aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi, 
Pallentesque hederas, et amantes littora myrtos. 
Namque sub CEbalise memini me turribus altis, 125 

Qua niger humectat flaventia culta Galaesus, 
Corycium vidisse senem, cui pauca relicti 
Jugera ruris erant ; nee fertilis ilia juvencis, 
Nee pecori opportuna seges, nee commoda Baccho. 
Hie rarum tamen in dumis olus, albaque circum 130 

Lilia, verbenasque premens, vescumque papaver, 
Regum aequabat opes animo ; seraque revertens 

H 



86 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Nocte domum dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis. 
Primus vere rosain, atque auctumno carpere poma ; 
Et, quum tristis hiems etiamnum frigore saxa 135 

Rumperet, et glacie cursus frenaret aquarum, 
Ille comam mollis jam turn tondebat acanthi, 
/Estatem increpitans seram zephyrosque morantes. 
Ergo apibus fcetis idem, atque examine multo, 
Primus abundare, et spumantia cogere pressis 140 

Mella favis ; illi tiliae, atque uberrima pinus ; 
Quotque in flore novo pomis se fertilis arbos 
Induerat, totidem auctumno matura tenebat. 
Ille etiam seras in versum distulit ulmos, 
Eduramque pirum, et spinos jam prana ferentes, 145 
Jamque ministrantem platanum potantibus umbras. 
Verum haec ipse equidem, spatiis exclusus iniquis, 
Prastereo, atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo. 

Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Jupiter ipse 
Addidit, expediam; pro qua mercede, canoros 150 

Cure turn sonitus crepitantiaque aera secutae 
Dictaeo cceli regem pavere sub antro. 
Solas communes gnatos, consortia tecta 
Urbis habent, magnisque agitant sub legibus aevum ; 
Et patriam solae, et certos novere Penates ; 155 

Venturaeque hiemis memores aestate laborem 
Experiuntur, et in medium quaesita reponunt. 
Namque aliae victu invigilant, et foedere pacto 
Exercentur agris : pars intra septa domorum 
Narcissi lacrimam, et lentum de cortice gluten, 160 

Prima favis ponunt fundamina, deinde tenaces 
Suspendunt ceras ; aliae, spem gentis, adultos 
Educunt foetus ; aliae purissima mella 
Stipant, et liquido distendunt nectare cellas. 
Sunt quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti ; 165 

Inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila cceli ; 
Aut onera accipiunt venientum, aut agmine facto 



GEORGICON LIB. IV. 87 

Ignavum, fucos, pecus a praesepibus arcent : 

Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. 

Ac veluti, lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis ! 170 

Quum properant, alii taurinis follibus auras 

Accipiunt redd unique, alii stridentia tingunt 

JEra lacu ; gemit impositis incudibus ./Etna : 

Illi inter sese magna vi brachia tollunt 

In numerum, versantque tenaci forcipe ferrum : 175 

Non aliter, si parva licet componere magnis, 

Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi, 

Munere quamque suo. Grandaevis oppida curae, 

Et munire favos, et daedala fingere tecta : 

At fessae multa. referunt se nocte minores, 180 

Crura thymo plenae; pascuntur et arbuta passim, 

Et glaucas salices, casiamque, crocumque rubentem, 

Et pinguem tiliam, et ferrugineos hyacinthos. 

Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus uhus. 

Mane ruunt portis ; nusquam mora : rursus, easdem 185 

Vesper ubi e pastu tandem decedere campis 

Admonuit, turn tecta petunt, turn corpora curant ; 

Fit sonitus, mussantque oras et limina circum. 

Post, ubi jam thalamis se composuere, siletur 

In noctem, fessosque sopor suus occupat artus. 190 

Nee vero a stabulis, pluvia. impendente, recedunt 

Longius, aut credunt ccelo adventantibus Euris : 

Sed circum tutae sub moenibus urbis aquantur, 

Excursusque breves tentant, et saepe lapillos, 

Ut cymbae instabiles fluctu jactante saburram, 195 

Tollunt ; his sese per inania nubila librant. 

Ilium adeo placuisse apibus mirabere morem, 

Quod nee concubitu indulgent, nee corpora segnes 

In venerem solvunt, aut foetus nixibus edunt ; 

Verum ipsae e foliis natos, et suavibus herbis, 200 

Ore legunt ; ipsae regem parvosque Quirites 

Sufficiunt, aulasque et cerea regna refingunt. 



88 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Saepe etiam duris errando in cotibus alas 

Attrivere, ultroque animam sub fasce dedere : 

Tantu's amor florum, et generandi gloria mellis. 205 

Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi 

Excipiat (neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas), 

At genus immortale manet, multosque per annos 

Stat fortuna domus, et avi numerantur avorum. 

Praeterea regem non sic iEgyptus et ingens 210 

Lydia, nee populi Parthorum, aut Medus Hydaspes, 

Observant. Rege incolumi, mens omnibus una est ; 

Amisso, rupere {idem, constructaque mella 

Diripuere ipsae, et crates solvere favorum. 

Ille operum custos : ilium admirantur, et omnes 215 

Circumstant fremitu denso, stipantque frequentes ; 

Et saepe attollunt humeris, et corpora bello 

Objectant, pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. 

His quidam signis, atque haec exempla secuti, 
Esse apibus partem divinae mentis et haustus 220 

iEtherios dixere : Deum namque ire per omnes 
Terrasque, tractusque maris, ccelumque profundum ; 
Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum, 
Quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas : 
Scilicet hue reddi deinde, ac resoluta referri 225 

Omnia ; nee morti esse locum ; sed viva volare 
Sideris in numerum, atque alto succedere ccelo. 

Si quando sedem angustam servataque mella 
Thesauris relines, prius haustu sparsus aquarum 
Ora fove, fumosque manu praetende sequaces. 230 

Bis gravidos cogunt foetus, duo tempora messis ; 
Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum 
Pleias, et Oceani spretos pede reppulit amnes ; 
Aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi Piscis aquosi 
Tristior hibernas ccelo descendit in undas. 235 

Illis ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum 
Morsibus inspirant, et spicula caeca relinquunt 



GEORGICON LIB. IV. 89 

Affixae venis, animasque in vulnere ponunt. 

Sin, duram metuens hiemem, parcesque futuro, 

Contusosque animos et res miserabere fractas, 240 

At suffire thymo, cerasque recidere inanes, 

Quis dubitet ! nam saepe favos ignotus adedit 

Stellio, et lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis, 

Immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus ; 

Aut asper crabro imparibus se immiscuit armis; 245 

Aut dirum, tineee, genus ; aut invisa Minervae 

Laxos in foribus suspendit aranea casses. 

Quo magis exhaustae fuerint, hoc acrius omnes 

Incumbent generis lapsi sarcire ruinas, 

Complebuntque foros, et floribus horrea texent. 250 

Si vero, quoniam casus apibus quoque nostros 
Vita tulit, tristi languebunt corpora morbo ; 
Quod jam non dubiis poteris cognoscere signis 
(Continuo est aegris alius color ; horrida vultum 
Deformat macies ; turn corpora luce carentum 255 

Exportant tectis, et tristia funera ducunt ; 
Aut illae pedibus connexae ad limina pendent, 
Aut intus clausis cunctantur in aedibus omnes, 
Ignavaeque fame, et contracto frigore pigrae : 
Turn sonus auditur gravior, tractimque susurrant; 260 
Frigidus ut quondam silvis immurmurat Auster, 
Ut mare sollicitum stridet refluentibus undis, 
iEstuat ut clausis rapidus fornacibus ignis) ; 
Hie jam galbaneos suadebo incendere odores, 
Mellaque arundineis inferre canalibus, ultro 265 

Hortantem, et fessas ad pabula nota vocantem. 
Proderit et tunsum gallae admiscere saporem, 
Arentesque rosas, aut igni pinguia multo 
Defruta, vel Psythia passos de vite racemos, 
Cecropiumque thymum, et grave olentia centaurea. 270 
Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello 
Fecere agricolae, facilis quaerentibus herba : 
H 2 



90 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Nam que uno ingentem tollit de cespite silvam, 

Aureus ipse ; sed in foliis, quae plurima circum 

Funduntur, violas sublucet purpura nigra? ; 275 

Saepe deum nexis ornatae torquibus arag ; 

Asper in ore sapor ; tonsis in vallibus ilium 

Pastores et curva legunt prope flumina Mellae. 

Hujus odorato radices incoque Baccho, 

Pabulaque in foribus plenis appone canistris. 280 

Sed, si quem proles subito defecerit omnis, 
Nee, genus uncle novae stirpis revocetur, habebit; 
Tempus et Arcadii memoranda inventa magistri 
Pandere, quoque modo cassis jam saepe juvencis 
Insincerus apes tulerit cruor ; altius omnem 285 

Expediam, prima repetens ab origine, famam. 
Nam, qua Pellaei gens fortunata Canopi 
Accolit effuso stagnantem flumine Nilum, 
Et circum pictis vehitur sua rura pbaselis ; 
Quaque pharetratas vicinia Persidis urget 290 

[Et viridem ^Egyptum nigra foecundat arena, 
Et diversa ruens septem discurrit in ora 
Usque coloratis amnis devexus ab Indis] ; 
Omnis in hac certain regio jacit arte salutem. 

Exiguus primum, atque ipsos contractus ad usus, 295 
Eligitur locus : hunc angustique imbrice tecti 
Parietibusque premunt arctis, et quatuor addunt, 
Quatuor a ventis, obliqua luce fenestras. 
Turn vitulus, bima curvans jam cornua fronte, 
Quasritur : huic, geminae nares, et spiritus oris, 300 

Multa reluctanti, obsuitur ; plagisque peremto 
Tunsa per integram solvuntur viscera pellem. 
Sic positum in clauso linquunt, et ramea costis 
Subjiciunt fragmenta, thymum, casiasque recentes. 
Hoc geritur, Zephyris primum impellentibus undas, 305 
Ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribas, ante 
(xarrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo. 



GEORGICON LIB. IV. 91 

Interea teneris tepefactus in ossibus humor 

iEstuat ; et visenda modis animalia miris, 

Trunca pedum primo, mox et stridentia pennis, 310 

Miscentur, tenuemque magis magis aera carpunt : 

Donee, ut aestivis effusus nubibus imber, 

Erupere ; aut ut nervo pulsante sagittae, 

Prima leves ineunt si quando prcelia Parthi. 

Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit artem? 315 
Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit 1 

Pastor Aristaeus, fugiens Penei'a Tempe, 
Amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque, 
Tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis, 
Multa querens ; atque hac aflfatus voce parentem : 320 
Mater, Cyrene mater, quae gurgitis hujus 
Ima tenes, quid me praeclara. stirpe deorum, 
Si modo, quern perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus Apollo, 
Invisum fatis genuisti 1 aut quo tibi nostri 
Pulsus amor? quid me coelum sperare jubebas 1 325 

En ! etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem, 
Quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia sollers 
Omnia tentanti extuderat, te matre, relinquo. 
Quin age, et ipsa manu felices erue silvas, 
Fer stabulis inimicum ignem, atque interfice messes, 330 
Ure sata, et validam in vites molire bipennem : 
Tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis. 
At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti 
Sen sit : earn circum Milesia veil era nymphae 
Carpebant, hyali saturo fucata colore ; 335 

Drymoque, Xanthoque, Ligeaque, Phyllodoceque, 
Caesariem effusae nitidam per Candida colla, 
[Nesaee, Spioque, Thaliaque, Cymodoceque] ; 
Cydippeque, et flava Lycorias ; altera virgo, 
Altera turn primos Lucinae experta labores ; 340 

Clioque et Beroe soror, Oceanitides ambae, 
Ambae auro, pictis incinctae pellibus ambae, 



92 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Atque Ephyre, atque Opis, et Asia Dei'opea, 

Et, tandem positis, velox Arethusa, sagittis. 

Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem 345 

Vulcani, Martisque dolos et dulcia furta ; 

Aque Chao densos divom numerabat amores. 

Carmine quo captae, dum fusis mollia pensa 

Devolvunt, iterum maternas impulit aures 

Luctus Aristasi, vitreisque sedilibus omnes 350 

Obstupuere ; sed, ante alias, Arethusa, sorores 

Prospiciens, summa flavum caput extulit unda. 

Et procul : O gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto, 

Cyrene soror ! ipse tibi, tua maxima cura, 

Tristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam 355 

Stat lacrimans, et te crudelem nomine dicit. 

Huic, percussa nova mentem formidine, mater, 

Due, age, due ad nos ; fas illi limina divom 

Tangere, ait: simul alta jubet discedere late 

Flumina, qua juvenis gressus inferret : at ilium 360 

Curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda, 

Accepitque sinu vasto, misitque sub amnem. 

Jamque domum mirans genetricis, et humida regna, 

Speluncisque lacus clausos, lucosque sonantes, 

Ibat, et, ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum, 365 

Omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra. 

Spectabat, diversa locis ; Phasimque, Lycumque, 

Et caput, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus, 

Unde pater Tiberinus, et unde Aniena fluenta, 

Saxosumque sonans Hypanis, Mysusque Cai'cus, 370 

Et, gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu, 

Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta 

In mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis. 

Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta 
Perventum, et gnati fletus cognovit inanes 375 

Cyrene, manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes 
Germanae, tonsisque ferunt mantilia villis. 



GEORGICON LIB. IV. 93 

Pars epulis onerant mensas, et plena reponunt 

Tocula : Panchasis adolescunt ignibus arae : 

Et mater, Cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi ; 380 

Oceano libemus, ait. Simul ipsa precatur 

Oceanumque patrem rerum, Nymphasque sorores, 

Centura quae silvas, centum quae flumina servant ; 

Ter liquido ardentem perfudit nectare Vestam : 

Ter flamma ad summum tecti subjecta reluxit. 385 

Omine quo firmans animum, sic incipit ipsa : 

Est in Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates, 

Caeruleus Proteus, magnum qui piscibus aequor 

Et juncto bipedum curru metitur equorum. 

Hie nunc Emathiae portus, patriamque revisit 390 

Pall en en : hunc et nymphae veneramur, et ipse 

Grandaevus Nereus ; novit namque omnia vates, 

Quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur; 

Quippe ita Neptuno visum est, immania cujus 

Armenta, et turpes pascit sub gurgite phocas. 395 

Hie tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus, ut omnem 

Expediat morbi caussam, eventusque secundet. 

Nam sine vi non ulla dabit praecepta, neque ilium 

Orando flectes ; vim duram et vincula capto 

Tende : doli circum haec demum frangentur inanes. 400 

Ipsa ego te, medios quum sol accenderit aestus, 

Quum sitiunt herbae, et pecori jam gratior umbra est, 

In secreta senis ducam, quo fessus ab undis 

Se recipit ; facile ut somno aggrediare jacentem. 

Verum, ubi correptum manibus vinclisque tenebis, 405 

Turn variae eludent species atque ora ferarum : 

Fiet enim subito sus horridus, atraque tigris, 

Squamosusque draco, et fulva cervice leaena ; 

Aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit, atque ita vinclis 

Excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit. 410 

Sed, quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes, 

Tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla ; 



94 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Donee talis erit mutato corpore, qualera 
Videris, incepto tegeret quum lumina sorano. 

Haec ait, et liquidum ambrosiae difFundit odorem, 415 
Quo totum nati corpus perduxit : at illi 
Dulcis compositis spiravit crinibus aura, 
Atque habilis membris venit vigor. Est specus ingens 
Exesi latere in montis, quo plurima vento 
Cogitur, inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos ; 420 

Deprensis olim statio tutissima nautis : 
Intus se vasti Proteus tegit objice saxi. 
Hie juvenem in latebris, aversum a lumine, nympha 
Collocat ; ipsa procul, nebulis obscura, resistit. 
Jam rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos 425 

Ardebat coelo, et medium Sol igneus orbem 
Hauserat ; arebant herbae, et cava flumina siccis 
Faucibus ad limum radii tepefacta coquebant : 
Quum Proteus, consueta petens e fluctibus antra, 
Ibat ; eum vasti circum gens humida ponti 430 

Exsultans rorem late dispersit am arum. 
Sternunt se somno diversae in littore phocae : 
Ipse, velut stabuli custos in montibus olim, 
Vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta reducit, 
Auditisque lupos acuunt balatibus agni, 435 

Considit scopulo medius, numerumque recenset. 
Cujus Aristaeo quoniam est oblata facultas ; 
Vix defessa senem passus componere membra, 
Cum clamore ruit magno, manicisque jacentem 
Occupat. Ille, suae contra non immemor artis, 440 

Omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum, 
Ignemque, horribilemque feram, fluviumque liquentem. 
Verum, ubi nulla fugam reperit fallacia, victus 
In sese redit, atque hominis tandem ore locutus : 
Nam quis te, juvenum confidentissime, nostras 445 

Jussit adire domus 1 quidve hinc petis ] inquit. At ille : 
Scis, Proteu, scis ipse, neque est te fallere quidquam ; 






GEORGICON LIB. IV. 95 

Sed tu desine velle. Deum praecepta secuti, 

Venimus hinc lapsis quaesitum oracula rebus. 

Tantum effatus. Ad haec vates vi denique multa, 450 

Ardentes oculos intorsit lumine glauco, 

Et, graviter frendens, sic fatis ora resolvit : 

Non te nullius exercent numinis irae : 
Magna luis commissa : tibi has, miserabilis Orpheus 
Haudquaquam ob meritum poenas, ni fata resistant, 455 
Suscitat, et rapta, graviter pro conjuge saevit. 
Ilia quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps, 
Immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella, 
Servantem ripas, alta. non vidit in herba. 
At chorus aequalis Dryadum clamore supremos 460 

Implerunt montes ; flerunt Rhodopeiae arces, 
Altaque Pangaea, et Rhesi Mavortia tellus, 
Atque Getae, atque Hebrus, et Actias Orithyia. 
Ipse, cava solans aegrum testudine amorem, 
Te, dulcis conjux, te solo in littore secum, 465 

Te,veniente die, te,decedente,canebat. 
Taenarias etiara fauces, alta ostia Ditis, 
Et caligantem nigra fbrmidine lucum 
Ingressus, Manesque adiit, regemque tremendum, 
Nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda. 470 
At, cantu commotae, Erebi de sedibus imis 
Umbrae ibant tenues, simulacraque luce carentum : 
Quam multa in foliis avium se millia condunt, 
Vesper ubi aut hibernus agit de montibus imber ; 
Matres, atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita 475 

Magnanimum heroum, pueri, innuptaeque puellae, 
Impositique rogis juvenes ante ora parentum ; 
Quos circum limus niger, et deformis arundo 
Cocyti, tardaque palus inamabilis unda, 
Alligat, et novies Styx interfusa coercet. 480 

Quin ipsae stupuere domus atque intima Leti 
Tartara, caeruleosque implexae crinibus angues 



96 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Eumenides, tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora, 
Atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis. 

Jaraque, pedem referens, casus evaserat omnes, 485 
Redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras, 
Pone sequens ; naraque hanc dederat Proserpina legem ; 
Quum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem, 
Ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere Manes : 
Restitit, Eurydicenque suam jam luce sub ipsa, 490 

Immemor, heu ! victusque animi, respexit. Ibi omnis 
Effusus labor, atque immitis rupta tyranni 
Fo3dera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis. 
Ilia, Quis et me, inquit, miseram, et te perdidit, Orpheu, 
Quis tantus furor ] En ! iterum crudelia retro 495 

Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus. 
Jamque vale. Feror ingenti circumdata nocte, 
Invalidasque tibi tendens, heu ! non tua, palmas. 
Dixit, et ex oculis subito, ceu fumus in auras 
Commixtus tenues, fugit diversa ; neque ilium, 500 

Prensantem nequidquam umbras, et multa volenfem 
Dicere, praeterea vidit ; nee portitor Orci 
Amplius objectam passus transire paludem. 
Quid faceret ] quo se, rapta bis conjuge, ferret 1 
Quo fletu Manes, qua Numina voce moveret? 505 

Ilia quidem Stygia nabat jam frigida cymba. 
Septem ilium totos perhibent ex ordine menses, 
Rupe sub aeria, deserti ad Strymonis undam, 
Flevisse, et gelidis haec evolvisse sub antris, 
Mulcentem tigres, et agentem carmine quercus : 510 

Qualis populea mcerens Philomela sub umbra 
Amissos queritur fetus, quos durus arator 
Observans nido implumes detraxit ; at ilia 
Flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen 
Integrat, et mcestis late loca questibus implet. 515 

Nulla Venus, non ulli animum flexere Hymenaei : 
Solus Hyperboreas glacies, Tanai'mque nivalem, 






GEORGICON LIB. IV. 97 

Arvaque Rhipasis nunquam viduata pruinis 
Lustrabat, raptam Eurydicen atque irrita Ditis 
Dona querens : spretae Ciconum quo munere matres, 520 
Inter sacra deum, nocturnique orgia Bacchi, 
Discerptum latos juvenem sparsere per agros. 
Turn quoque, marmorea caput a cervice revulsum 
G-urgite quum medio portans GEagrius Hebrus 
Volveret, Eurydicen vox ipsa, et frigida lingua, 525 

Ah miseram Eurydicen! annua fugiente vocabat; 
Eurydicen toto referebant flumine ripae. 

Haec Proteus ; et se jactu dedit asquor in altum : 
Quaque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice torsit. 
At non Cyrene : namque ultro afFata timentem : 530 

Nate, licet tristes animo deponere curas. 
Haec omnis morbi caussa ; hinc miserabile Nymphas, 
Cum quibus ilia choros lucis agitabat in altis, 
Exitium misere apibus : tu munera supplex 
Tende, petens pacem, et faciles venerare Napaeas ; 535 
Namque dabunt veniam votis, irasque remittent. 
Sed, modus orandi qui sit, prius ordine dicam. 
Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros, 
Qui tibi nunc viridis depascunt summa Lycaei, 
Delige, et intacta totidem ceivice juvencas. 540 

Quatuor his aras alta ad delubra dearum 
Constitue, et sacrum jugulis demitte cruorem, 
Corporaque ipsa bourn frondoso desere luco. 
Post, ubi nona suos Aurora ostenderit ortus, 
Inferias Orphei Lethaea papavera mittes, 545 

Et nigram mactabis ovem, lucumque revises ; 
Placatam Eurydicen vitula venerabere cassa. 

Haud mora : continuo matris prascepta facessit. 
Ad delubra venit ; monstratas excitat aras ; 
Quatuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros 550 

Ducit, et intacta totidem cervice juvencas. 
Post, ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus, 

I 



98 GEORGICON LIB. IV. 

Inferias Orphei mittit, lucumque revisit. 
Hie vero, subitum ac dictu mirabile mou strum ! 
Aspiciunt liquefacta bourn per viscera toto 5 55 

Stridere apes utero, et ruptis effervere costis ; 
Immensasque trahi nubes ; jamque arbore summa 
Confluere, et lentis uvam demittere ramis. 



JLec super arvorum cultu peeorumque canebam, 

Et super arboribus; Caesar dum magnus ad altum 560 

Fulminat Euphraten bello, victorque volentes 

Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo. 

Illo Virgilium me tempore dulcis alebat 

Parthenope, studiis florentem ignobiiis oti ; 

Carmina qui lusi pastorum, audaxque juventa, 565 

Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi. 






NOTES. 



NOTES 

ON 

THE ECLOGUES. 



BUCOLIC, OR PASTORAL POETRY. 

I. By Bucolica, in Latin, are meant " Bucolic Poems," there being 
an ellipsis here of poemata or carmina ; and the term Bucolica itself 
is of Greek origin, coming from BovkoXlko, (scil. TcoiTJfia-a), which 
last, again, is derived from (SovkoIIu, " to tend cattle." The geni- 
tive plural will be Bucolicon, from the Greek Bovko?ukuv. 

II. Hence by " Bucolics" are literally meant " poems on the 
tending of oxen and herds," and then, less strictly, " pastoral poems 
in general," in which the interlocutors are husbandmen, shepherds, 
shepherdesses, &c. 

III. The term "Eclogue" (Ecloga) is also of Greek origin, com- 
ing from EKkoyTj, i. e., "that which is chosen out," or, "a choice 
collection," especially of passages in authors, &c., such as the 
Ecloga, or " Elegant Extracts," of Stobaeus. 1 

IV. By a later usage, the term Ecloga was made to apply, not to 
any particular selection from certain writings, but merely to a col- 
lection of poems, resembling one another in form and subject, with- 
out any reference to their being selections from other and more co- 
pious writings. It is in this sense that the term Ecloga is some- 
times applied, by the ancient grammarians, to the Satires of Horace. 3 

V. By a still farther deviation from primitive usage, the appella- 
tion of Ecloga is thought to have been given to any small poem, on 
any subject whatsoever ; so that, if this opinion be correct, the term 
is here equivalent to udetov, or eldvXkiov.* 

VI. The question now arises, why the name of Eclogues was 
given to the Bucolic poems of Virgil. According to some, these 
productions were so called because they are merely selections, or, 
rather, imitations from Theocritus. This opinion, however, has 

1. Compare Varro, ap. Charts., p. 97, Putsch., " Eclogas ex Annali descriptas." 
2.Heyne, De Carm. Bucol. — Virg., Op., ed. Wagn., vol. i., p. 18. 
3. Consult, as authorities iu support of this opinion, Stat., Silv.,3 prccf.; 4 praf. ; 
Auson., Idyll., 10 praf. ; and, on the other side, Souchay ad Auson,, I. c. 
12 



102 NOTES ON THE ECLOGUES. 

but little to recommend it. Others again, among whom are Heyne 
and many modern scholars, think that the term " Eclogues" was 
given to the pastoral poems of Virgil, not by that poet himself, but 
by the grammarians of a later day, and that it merely means a col- 
lection of poems similar in form, and turning on similar subjects. 
A third class of scholars make the Eclogues of Virgil to have de- 
rived their name from their being so many short poems on pastoral 
themes. The best explanation, however, and at the same time the 
most natural one, is that of Voss, according to whom the Eclogues 
of Virgil are nothing more than so many selections, made by the 
poet himself, from various pastoral poems previously given by him 
to the world at different periods, and now for the first time appearing 
in a consecutive form. 1 

VII. Thus much being premised, we now come to the subject of 
Bucolic or Pastoral poetry itself. From the earliest periods, the 
mode of life followed by the ancient Italians was agricultural and 
rustic ; and a love of rural retirement was prevalent among their 
descendants, so long as they were not totally corrupted by foreign 
manners and Oriental luxury. But the general habits of the Romans 
were practical and industrious. They resorted to the country life 
chiefly for the purpose of labour and lucrative toil, and not to pass 
their time in pastoral indolence or contemplation. Hence pastoral 
poetry was not indigenous at Rome, but was transplanted from the 
valleys or mountains of Sicily or Arcadia, where, perhaps, it was 
the fruit of solitude and leisure. 

VIII. But, though prohably invented amid scenes of rural retire- 
ment, pastoral poetry has been chiefly cultivated in ages of refine- 
ment, when those who were assembled in courts and cities looked 
back with pleasure on the rustic occupations and innocent lives of 
their forefathers. Theocritus, who was born and bred in Sicily, but 
flourished in the court of Alexandrea, under the Egyptian Ptolemies, 
was the chief writer of pastoral poetry previous to the time of Vir- 
gil, and his Idylls have been in all ages the great repertory of pas- 
toral sentiments and descriptions. 

IX. Virgil was the professed imitator of Theocritus ; his images 
are all Greek, and his scenery such as he found painted in the pages 
of the Sicilian poet, and not what he had himself observed on the 
banks of the Mincius. Yet, with all this imitation and resemblance, 
the productions of the two poets are widely different. Thus, the 
delineations of character in Theocritus are more various and live- 

1. Voss, ad Eclog., 10, 1, " Seine (Virgil's) Eklogen, das ist, eine verbesserte Aus- 
wahl seiner zerstreut herausgegebenen Idyllen." 



NOTES ON THE ECLOGUES. 103 

ly ; whereas, in Virgil, the same want of discrimination of charac- 
ter, so frequently remarked in the JEneid, is observable also in his 
pastorals. His Thyrsis, Damon, and Menalcas, all resemble each 
other. No shepherd is distinguished by any peculiar disposition or 
humour ; they all speak from the lips of the poet, and their dialogue 
is modelled by the standard of his own elegant mind. 

X. A difference is likewise observable in the scenes and descrip- 
tions. Those of Theocritus possess that minuteness and accuracy 
so conducive to poetic truth and reality ; Virgil's representations are 
more general, and bring only vague images before the fancy. In 
the Idylls of Theocritus we find a rural, romantic wildness of thought, 
and the most pleasing descriptions of simple, unadorned nature, 
heightened by the charm of the Doric dialect. But Virgil, in bor- 
rowing his images and sentiments, has seldom drawn an idea from 
his Sicilian master without beautifying it by the lustre of his lan- 
guage. 

XI. The chief merit, however, of Virgil's imitations lies in his 
judicious selections. Theocritus's sketches of manners are often 
coarse and unpleasing ; and his most beautiful descriptions are al- 
most always too crowded. But Virgil refined away whatever was 
gross, and threw aside all that was overloaded and superfluous. He 
made his shepherds more cultivated than those even of his own 
time. He represented them with some of the features which are 
supposed to have belonged to swains in the early ages of the world, 
w r hen they were possessed of great flocks and herds, and had ac- 
quired a knowledge of astronomy, cosmogony, and music ; when the 
pastoral life, in short, appeared in perfection, and Nature had lav- 
ished all her stores to render the shepherd happy. 

XII. It would scarcely, at first sight, appear that a period of civil 
war, which desolated the provinces of Italy, and spread its horrors 
over the whole Roman Empire, should have tended to encourage 
the pastoral muse, whose gentle spirit it was more likely to have 
totally destroyed. Yet to circumstances thus seemingly unfavour- 
able we owe some of the most pleasing and interesting eclogues of 
Virgil, who has made the unfortunate history of his country sub- 
servient to the efforts of his genius. Where the mere outlines of 
nature were to be represented, he has transcribed his similes and 
descriptions from his Grecian master. But in those pieces to which 
the distresses of the times, or other political considerations gave 
rise, he seems more elaborately to have exercised the faculty of in- 
vention, or to have applied the lines of Theocritus, as it were by a 
sort of parody, to the passing events of his own age, or his own, 



104 NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 

private history, dressing out in pastoral colours the leading charac- 
ters and transactions of the day. 

XIII. The Eclogues of Virgil may be divided into two classes : 
1. those in which, by a sort of allegory, some events or characters 
of the time are shaded out under an image of pastoral life ; and, 2. 
those in which shepherds and rural scenes are simply and literally 
presented to us. To the first class belong the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 
9th Eclogues. — (Dunlop, Hist. Rom. Lit., vol. iii., p. 97, segq.) 



ECLOGUE I. 

Subject. 
Augustus having distributed the lands of Mantua and Cremona 
among the veteran soldiers, who had conquered with him at Phil- 
ippi, Virgil's farm was seized along with those of his neighbours. 
The poet thereupon repaired to Rome, and, having recovered his 
patrimony through the favour of Augustus, wrote this Eclogue in 
testimony of his gratitude. Under the persons of Tityrus and 
Meliboeus the bard intends to represent, on the one hand, the joy 
and gratitude of those Mantuan shepherds who were allowed to re- 
main on their lands ; and, on the other, the bitter feelings and com- 
plaints of the expatriated colonists. Still, however, we must not 
imagine, with most commentators, that Tityrus is meant for the 
poet Virgil himself. Such an explanation would bring with it insu- 
perable difficulties, and would make a part of the Eclogue (v. 28-30) 
absolutely unintelligible. Tityrus, in fact, represents a slave, now 
somewhat advanced in years, who has had for some time the gen- 
eral superintendence of his master's farm, and been accustomed to 
convey at times the produce of the estate to the neighbouring city 
of Mantua. His master, Virgil, goes to Rome, in order to obtain 
from Augustus the restoration of his lands ; and Tityrus subse- 
quently repairs to the same place for the purpose of procuring man- 
umission from the former. Both succeed in their respective ob- 
jects : Virgil obtains his lands from Augustus ; Tityrus his freedom 
from Virgil, and is again placed by the poet over his farm. At the 
opening of the Eclogue, Tityrus appears as newly manumitted, and 
filled with as much joy at the restoration of his master's fields as if 
they really belonged to himself.— ( Wunderlich, ad loc.—Spohn, ad 
loc. — Id., Prolegom. ad Carm. Bucol.) 

j According to Voss, this Eclogue was composed in the autumn of 
A.U.C. 713, the poet being then in his 28th year. 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 105 

1-2. Tityre, tu, patul.ce, &c. " Thou, Tityrus, reclining beneath 
the shade of a spreading beech." The name Tityrus is borrowed 
from Theocritus, Id., iii., 2, teal 6 TiTvpoe. avrac elavvec. The word 
is probably Doric, for Zurvpoc, " a satyr," or companion of Bacchus, 
though Strabo distinguishes the Tlrvpoi from the "Eurvpoi. It sub- 
sequently became a frequent shepherd's name. — Tegmine. As it 
appears from verse 72, that the time of this Eclogue was the be- 
ginning of autumn, this sitting of Tityrus in the shade, although the 
evening is now coming on (v. 82), will indicate the warmth of an 
autumnal day. The Italian shepherds pastured their flocks from 
the middle of April until some time in November. — Fagi. The 
Fagus of the Latins is the 'Oijva of Theophrastus (iii., 10), and the 
^yjyoc of Dioscorides (i., 121). It must not, however, be confounded 
with the Qnyoc of Theophrastus (iii., 8, 2), which last is a kind of 
oak, bearing an esculent acorn, and identical, perhaps, with the 
Quercus esculus of Linnaeus. Some critics object to the mention of 
the beech in this passage, because there are no trees of that kind, 
at the present day, in the vicinity of Mantua. They forget, how- 
ever, that eighteen centuries have intervened. So, in the case of 
Lebanon, but few of the noble cedars remain that once adorned 
the upper parts of the mountain. 

Silvestrem tenui musam, &c. "Art practising a woodland -lay 
upon the slender pipe." The verb meditor is here employed some- 
what technically, to indicate the playing over again and again, in 
order to become perfect in any tune or piece of music, whether of 
one's own invention or not. (Compare Eclog., vi., 82, and Schmal- 
feld, hat. Syn., § 125.) — Avend. Taken here, generally, for calamo, 
as appears from verse 10. The term properly denotes an oaten 
straw, and is then employed, in a more general sense, for any straw, 
pipe, stem, &c, and, finally, for a pipe, or flagelet. The earlier in- 
struments of this kind were made of very rude materials, and the 
name was retained after the materials had undergone, in process 
of time, a complete change. The pipe of Tityrus, on the present 
occasion, appears to have* been of the simplest structure, and only 
a single one, not the syrinx or fistula, which consisted of several 
combined. (Consult Voss, ad loc, and the note on Eclog., ii., 32.) 

3-5. Nos. Referring not only to himself, but to all others simi- 
larly situated. — Patrice fines. " The borders of our native canton." 
Observe that patria is here equivalent merely to "pagus patrius." 
So Voss {ad loc. ),"das vaterliche Dorf." — Palriam. " Our native 
home." The repetitions in this passage are intended to mark strong 
feeling. — Lentus. "Stretched at ease." From the same stem with 



106 NOTES ON ECLOGUET I. 

lenire, and signifying, originally, " pliant," " flexible, " easy to bend," 
&c. (Schmalfeld, Eat. Syn., § 357.) — Formosam resonate Amaryliida. 
" To re-echo the name of the beautiful Amaryllis." The name of 
a beautiful female slave to whom he was now attached. The former 
object of his affection had been Galatea. (Compare verse 31.) 

6-10. Melibcee. The proper name Meliboeus means, in fact, 
" herdsman," and comes from /xeXec and j3ovg, indicating one to 
whom oxen and herds are a care. — Deus. "A god." The poet 
flatters Augustus by calling him a god, some years before divine 
honours were publicly decreed to him by the senate. — Hczc otia. 
"This peaceful repose." Referring to the peace and security 
brought about by Augustus after the storms of the civil war. Ob- 
serve the force of the plural. — Namque. " And (well may I call 
him so), for," &c. Compare the corresponding Greek form nal yap. 
— Mihi. " In my eyes." — Nostris. The language of a slave or su- 
perintendent, speaking of things the care of which was intrusted to 
himself, while the ownership was in another. So meas in the next 
line. (Compare Eclog., ix., 2, 12, 30.) — Imbue t. " Shall stain with 
its blood." Supply sanguine suo. It may be here remarked, that 
Augustus was first worshipped by different cities of the empire, 
A.U.C. 718, after Sextus Pompeius was overthrown ; and, subse- 
quently, in accordance with a formal decree of the senate, A.U.C. 
724. (Compare Horat., Od., iv., 5, 33.) 

Errare. "To range at will," i. e., to pasture at large, without 
any danger of being carried off by plundering bands. — Et ipsum 
ludere, &.c. " And myself to play what I pleased." For ct ipsum 
me ludere. — Calamo agresti. " On my rural pipe." 

11-13. Non equidem invideo, &c. " I do not envy thee ; indeed, I 
rather wonder (at thy lot)," i. e. y I do not so much envy thy present 
repose, as wonder how it was brought about, considering the con- 
fusion and discord that everywhere prevail over the neighbour- 
ing country. — Usque adeo turbatur agris. " To such a degree does 
disturbance even prevail over the country," i. e. , so much disturbance 
is occasioned over the whole country by the violent conduct of the 
veterans in dispossessing the former proprietors. Observe that 
turbatur is here used impersonally. The prose construction here 
would commence with nam or quum. The terms adeo, tantus, talis, 
&c, often connect, however, two sentiments in such a way, that 
the presence of nam or quum is dispensed with. ' 

Protenus ager ago. " Sick at heart, am driving forth," i. e. } am 
driving forth into the wide world, whither I know not. Protenus y 
as Voss correctly remarks, is from porro and tcnus, and, strictly 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 107 

speaking, refers to motion forth from any place. Thus in Cicero, 
Div., i., 24, Hannibal is said to have been ordered, in a dream, by- 
Jupiter, " ut pcrgeret protcnus," i. e., uno et perpctuo tenorc procedere. 
(Voss, ad loc.) — Mger. Because stripped of all his possessions by 
tbe soldiery. Heyne, with less propriety, refers the term to bodily 
sickness. Our explanation, however, has the sanction of Voss, 
Wunderlich, Spohn, Jahn, Doering, and Wagner. Others, again, 
make ceger equivalent here to (Bgre, " with difficulty." But this has 
little to recommend it, especially as vix immediately succeeds. 

Duco. The other she-goats he drives before him, but the one 
here referred to he with difficulty leads along by a cord, in conse- 
quence of its feeble health. 

14-15. Hie inter densas corulos, &c. " For here, amid the thick 
hazels, having just brought forth twins, with many a throe, on the 
bare rock, alas ! she hath left behind her the hope of my flock." 
Observe the gesture indicated by hie, as he points to the spot. — 
Densas corulos. In the cold shade, away from the fostering warmth 
of the sun. And then, again, silke in nudd, on the bare, rocky 
ground, with no herbage spread beneath for a couch. Hence we 
see the force of connixa, "having brought forthwith many a throe," 
as marking a painful delivery, amid circumstances of great discom- 
fort. Servius trifles, therefore, when he makes connixa to be em- 
ployed here for enixa, merely to avoid an hiatus in the line. The 
she-goats generally bring forth twice a year : once in March, and 
again towards the beginning of winter. 

16-19. Lava. " Stupidly infatuated," i. e., stupidly perverse, and 
disinclined to regard the monition. Observe the peculiar force of 
Icevus here, which it gets from the idea of weakness and unlucki- 
ness commonly attached, in popular belief, to the left as opposed to 
the right. — Be caelo tactas. " Struck with lightning." Literally, 
"touched from heaven." — Quercus. According to Pomponius Sa- 
binus, an old commentator, who apparently gets his information 
from works now lost of the ancient grammarians, when fruit- 
trees were struck, it was regarded as an evil omen generally ; 
when olive-trees, it indicated sterility ; when oaks, exile. 

Scepe sinistra, &c. " Often did the ill-omened crow," &c. This 
whole verse is deservedly regarded as spurious by both ancient and 
modern critics. It is wanting, also, in all the Paris MSS. Spohn 
very properly objects, moreover, to the awkward repetition in pra>- 
dixit and ilice, when pradicere and quercus have just preceded. The 
line belongs properly to another Eclogue. (Consult Eclog., ix., 15.) 

Iste Deus. " That God of thine," i. e. t that God to whom thou 



108 NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 

so fondly referrest thy present felicity. Observe here the force of 
iste, as the pronoun of the second person, and compare the remark 
of Wagner : " Hoc pronomen semper a Virgilio, ac nescio an ab omni 
probo scriptore, ad secundam personam refertur." (Qucsst. Virg., xviii., 
1.)— Da. " Tell." Equivalent to ede or die. 

20-26. Urbem quam dicunt, &c. Tityrus, instead of answering 
directly who the deity in question is, deviates, with a pastoral sim- 
plicity, into a description of Rome itself. — Huic nostra. " To this 
one of ours." Supply urbi. The reference is to Mantua. — Pas- 
tores. " We shepherds." He alludes to himself, among the num- 
ber of these, as driving occasionally to Mantua some of the young 
of the flocks, by his master's orders. — Depellere. " To drive down." 
Andes, Virgil's native village, lay in the Mantuan territory, three 
miles distant from Mantua itself. It stood on high ground, and 
hence the road was downward from Virgil's farm to the city. — 
Noram. " I knew." Incorrectly rendered by some, "I thought." 

Verum hac tantum, &c. " This one, however, rears its head 
among other cities, as much as cypresses do among the pliant 
wayfaring trees." His meaning is this : I thought that Rome was 
merely, on a large scale, what Mantua was on a small one ; that 
the two cities were the same in their nature or general character, 
but differed merely in size ; or, in other words, that the resem- 
blance between the two would be pretty much the same as that be- 
tween a young animal and its parent. I found, however, on visit- 
ing Rome, that it not only exceeded Mantua in size, but also dif- 
fered from it in other respects as much as the tall and firm cypress- 
es do from the humble and pliant wayfaring trees. — Viburna. The 
viburnum, or wayfaring tree, is a shrub with bending, tough branch- 
es, which are therefore much used in binding fagots. The name 
is derived by some from vico, " to bind." The ancient writers seem 
to have called any shrub that was fit for this purpose viburnum ; 
but the more modern authors have retained that name to ex- 
press only the wayfaring tree. (Martyn, ad loc.) Fee translates 
viburnum by " la viorne," and seeks to identify it with the lantana of 
the Italians, or the Viburnum lantana of Linnaeus. — (Flore de Virgile, 
p. clxxv.) 

28-30. Quce tanta causa. "What so strong inducement." — Lib- 
ertas. "Freedom," i. e., the desire of regaining my freedom. Con- 
sult introductory remarks. — Quce sera, tamen, &c. " Who, late 'tis 
true (in her arrival), still, however, looked kindly upon me (at last), 
though indolent of spirit." The true force of inertem here may be 
deduced from verse 32, where he describes himself as careless of 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 109 

his little gains, and consequently of the means of procuring for 
himself an earlier freedom. The expression sera, tamen, &c, is the 
same, in fact, as sera quidem, sed venit tamen. Compare the Greek 
form of expression, bipe p}v, aXk' fjWev. — Respexit. When the dei- 
ties turned their eyes towards their worshippers, it was a sign of 
favour ; when they averted them, of displeasure. The gaze of the 
Goddess of Freedom had long been averted from him. 

Candidior postquam, &c. " After my beard began to fall of a 
whiter hue unto me removing it." More literally, " unto me lop- 
ping it." A playful circumlocution for " after I was now beginning 
to grow gray with years." Supply mihi with tondenti. — Longo post 
tempore. Industrious and diligent slaves might obtain their free- 
dom after five years' servitude, or even earlier, as Voss remarks, 
who refers to Cic, Phil, viii., 11. This will serve to explain the 
excessive indolence of Tityrus in procuring his manumission. 
(Compare inertem, v. 28.) 

31-36. Nos habet. " Holds possession of me," i. c, sways my af- 
fections. There was no marriage between slaves ; it was merely a 
contubernium, or living together. — Galatea. The name of another 
female fellow-slave, with whom he had previously lived. — Nee cura 
peculi. " Nor care (taken by me) of my little gains." He spent 
his money as fast as he made it, and took no care to hoard up a 
sum by which he might purchase his freedom. A slave, strictly 
speaking, could have no property of his own. Since slaves, how- 
ever, were often employed as agents for their masters in the man- 
agement of business, it may easily be conceived that, under these 
circumstances, especially as they were ol'ten intrusted with prop- 
erty to a large amount, there must have arisen a practice of allow- 
ing a slave to consider part of the gains as his own. This was his 
peculium, and with it he might, with his master's consent, purchase 
his freedom, when it amounted to a certain sum. 

Quamvis multa meis, &c. Alluding to the cattle and other ani- 
mals driven by him, from time to time, to Mantua, and there sold 
as victims for sacrifice. According to Fronto {Different. Vocab.), 
the term victima means an animal of large size, as, for example, a 
calf; and hoslia a smaller one, as a lamb. (Spohn, ad loc.) — Meis 
septis. " From my enclosures." Not folds, but enclosures for 
larger animals. — Ingratce vrbi. " For the ungrateful city." The 
city of Mantua is here called " ungrateful," because not giving him 
as high a price as he ought, in his own opinion, to have had, and 
thus stinting him in his means of procuring finery for Galatea. 
(Consult Spohn and Wagner, ad loc.) Some commentators, with 

K 



110 NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 

much less propriety, make ingratus equivalent here to infelix. — 
Gravis cere. " Heavy with money." 

37. Mirabar. " I used to wonder." Meliboeus now finds out, 
from what Tityrus has just said, the cause of the grief of Amaryl- 
lis, namely, her lamenting the absence of Tityrus whenever busi- 
ness called him to the city. — Quid. "Why." Supply propter. — 
Amarylli. Some commentators, regarding the whole of this Ec- 
logue as allegorical, and making Tityrus to be Virgil himself, fancy 
that the poet means Rome by Amaryllis, and Mantua by Galatea. 
And since they find the presence of Amarylli, therefore, in this 
line, militate against their theory, they read Galatea in place of it. 
Their view of the matter, however, is entirely erroneous, and there 
is no allegory at all. Meliboeus merely wonders why certain rural 
labours were suspended. Now Galatea had been accustomed to 
be indolent, and this conduct, therefore, was not at all surprising 
in her case. But it was surprising in the case of Amaryllis, who 
had before this been quite active in her duties, and a careful house- 
wife. The common reading, therefore, must stand. 

Pendere. " To hang ungathered." — Poma. " The fruit," a general 
term for fruit growing on trees ; hence Pomona, the goddess of 
fruit. — Pinus. The pine-tree (Pinus pinea of Linnaeus) was planted 
in gardens, not only on account of its fruit and pleasing appearance, 
but also because it furnished the bees with wax and hive-dross, or 
eryihace (ipvOatcTJ). It must be remembered, that the pine here 
meant is what is commonly called the stone pine. In the southern 
parts of Europe, and in the Levant, the seeds, which are large and 
like nuts, are eaten. The Spaniards are particularly fond of them. 
— (Fee, Flore de Virgile, p. cxxx.) 

Fontes. The fountains here referred to indicate the pasture- 
grounds of Andes, which descended from the woody hills (Edog., 
ix., 7) to the meadows watered by the Mincius, and which were ac- 
customed to be irrigated, either during the summer heats or before 
harvest. (Eclog., iii., 111.) By the rivulets that watered these 
grounds, Amaryllis used to sit in the shade, during the noonday 
heats, with her small flock, awaiting the return of Tityrus. — Ipsa 
hac arbusta. " These very copses." Arbusta is here equivalent to 
fruticeta, as Spohn and Wagner maintain, and as appears from v. 2 
and 14, seqq. Voss, with less propriety, refers the term to the spots 
of ground in which trees for training vines, especially elms, were 
planted at intervals of from twenty to forty feet, and the ground 
between them was sown with seed. 

41-44. Neque licebat. " It was neither allowed me in any other 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. Ill 

way," i. e., I could not help it. I had to disregard the entreaties 
of Amaryllis, and betake myself to Rome, since I could obtain man- 
umission in no other way. — Nee tarn prasentes, &c. " Nor could I 
elsewhere find gods so propitious ;" more literally, * become ac- 
quainted with." Observe the literal force of prcescntes, " present 
(and ready) to aid." Deified mortals, to whom, in their lifetime, 
sacrifices were offered, were thus addressed ; hence the allusion to 
Augustus. 

Juvenem. Alluding to Augustus, who was about twenty-two 
years old when the division of the lands was made among the sol- 
diers. — Quotannis bis senos, &c. " For whom my altars smoke 
twice six days every year," i. e., in honour of whom, unto whom as 
a deity. Heyne makes fumant equivalent here to fumabunt, but 
this is incorrect. Tityrus had set out for Rome in the beginning of 
July, as may be inferred from the mention of the ripe fruit in verse 
38, and the present dialogue took place in October of the same year. 
His altars, therefore, had already begun to smoke. Tityrus wor- 
ships Augustus, moreover, as a Lar domesticus, not for twelve con- 
tinuous days, but one day every month, either on the Kalends, 
Nones, or Ides, for the Lares were worshipped at these periods. 
(Compare Cato, R. R. 143, 2 : " Kalcndis, Idibus, Nonis, festus dies 
cum erit, coronam in focum indat ; per eosdemque dies Lari familiari 
pro copid supplicet") 

45-46. Hie mihi responsum, &c. " He first gave an answer unto 
me, entreating him," i. e., he first gave this answer to my suit. Ob- 
serve here the peculiar force of primus, which is equivalent, in effect, 
to demum or tandem. " He was the first one from whom I heard the 
words of safety ;" that is, from him at length, and not from any oth- 
er before him. (Consult Wagner, Quast. Virg., xxviii., 5.) — Respon- 
sum. Used here in its simple meaning of an answer to a request, 
and not, as some pretend, in the sense of a response from .a pro- 
tecting divinity. 

Fueri. " Swains." — Submittite tauros. " Yoke your steers." 
Supply jugo. The meaning appears to be, in fact, " break them to 
the yoke;" literally, "send them under the yoke." They who 
favour another interpretation should consider the following objec- 
tion of Wunderlich : " De supplcndo grege si capias, vide ne dicendum 
fuerit juvencos submittere, non tauros ; tauri enim jam adulti, non 
submittendi igitur, sed jam submissi. "Vitulos submittere." Georg., 
hi., 159. 

47-49. Ergo lua rura manebunt ! " Thy fields, then, will remain 
(for thee) !" i. e., will remain untouched by a ruthless soldiery. 



112 NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 

Observe the force of tua here, not indicating any ownership on the 
part of Tityrus, but referring to the fields of his master, to which 
Tityrus, from long residence and superintendence, had now become 
so familiarly attached. — Magna satis. He means, sufficiently ex- 
tensive for all his purposes of pasturing. 

Quamvis lapis omnia nudus, &c. " Though the naked rock cover 
all the places (above), while the fen overspreads with muddy rush- 
es the pastures (below)." The farm of Virgil is here described as 
partly situated at the foot of stony and woody heights, and partly 
extending down to the banks of the Mincius, which, overflowing at 
times, and then stagnating, had rendered the parts bordering on it 
completely marshy, and overrun with rushes. The farm, therefore, 
is a poor one, and yet, poor as it is, the poet appears contented 
with it. 

50-53. Non insuela graves, &c. " No unaccustomed food shall 
harm the languid mothers (of your flock)." The term fceta, as Voss 
remarks, properly indicated the mother, from the period of concep- 
tion to that of bringing forth. It is used, however, also with refer- 
ence to the period after delivery, as in Plin., H. N., viii., 19, and 
Columella, vii., 3. On the present occasion, as the thoughts of Me- 
libceus are constantly running on his own unhappy lot, and as his 
own she-goat has just brought forth, and still remains languid, it 
will be more natural to make fozta refer here to the period after de- 
livery. Hence the true force of the passage becomes apparent, and 
the line may be paraphrased as follows : " Thou, Tityrus, art not 
like me, going forth into exile, dragging after thee this poor languid 
animal, that has just brought forth, and in whose case the constant 
change of pastures cannot but do harm." 

Inter fiumina nota et fontes sacros. " At the well-known rivers 
and the sacred fountains." Wagner has an able and satisfactory 
note on the peculiar force of inter in this passage, and makes it, by 
a comparison with many other passages, equivalent to ad. By the 
fiumina nota Heyne thinks are meant the Mincius and Po, which 
could both be seen in the distance from this part of the poet's farm. 
It is better, however, to refer the term to the small streams cross- 
ing his domains. The Mincius, as Voss remarks, forms quite a lake 
near the farm of Virgil, and the Po is too far off to be visited by the 
shepherd and his flocks. — Frigus opacum. "The cool shade." 
Equivalent to frigus loci opaci. 

54-59. Hinc tibi, qua semper, &c. " On this side, the hedge that 
divides thy land from thy neighbour's, which is always fed upon, as 
to the flower of the willow, by Hyblaean bees, shall often invite thee 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 113 

to sleep with a gentle murmur," i. e., more freely, "where Hyblae- 
an bees are always feeding upon the flower of the willow." The 
expression vicino ab limite sepr.s has given considerable trouble to 
the commentators. We have followed Heyne in making it equiva- 
lent to " agrum vicinum a tuo disterminans." Oudendorp, however 
(ad Suet., Aug., 91), is in favour of construing hinc ab vicino limite 
together ; i. e., " ab ed parte, qua vicinus limes est." — Hyblceis. A fig- 
urative expression to denote the best bees ; from Hybla, a town of 
Sicily, a short distance to the south of iEtna, and famed for its 
honey. — Depasta. Supply est. This verb here conveys the idea of 
feeding eagerly. — Salicti. Contracted from saliceti. Observe, that 
salictum (or salicetum), the place where willows grow, is here used 
for salix, the willow itself. (Compare Georg., ii., 13.) The flowers 
of willows, as Martyn observes, are catkins. They abound in chives, 
the summits of which are full of a fine, yellow dust that forms one 
of the materials out of which the bees are said to make their wax. 

Frortdator. " The pruner." In order to assist the ripening of 
the grapes, the pruner removes the denser foliage of the tree, along 
which the vine is trained, and also some of the young leaves of the 
vine itself. The young leaves of the vine might be taken ofF either 
in the morning or evening ; but this was never to be done at mid- 
day. {Plin., H. N., xviii., 76.) The leaves, when taken off, were 
either used at once for fodder, or else were kept till winter. (Com- 
pare note on Eclog., ii., 70.) — Ad auras. "To the breezes," i. e., 
shall send forth his song upon the breeze. 

Tua cura. " Thy delight," i. e., whose note thou delightest to 
hear. The pleasing though mournful cry of the wood-pigeon is al- 
luded to, also, by Longus (i., 12). — Gemere. " To coo," a term 
beautifully expressive of the mournfully plaintive note of the wood- 
pigeon and turtle-dove, especially the latter. The turtle-dove 
spends only three months in Italy, leaving that country about the 
middle of autumn. It loves the tops of trees and other elevated 
situations. 

60-64. Ante leves ergo, &c. " Sooner, then, shall the nimble stags 
pasture high in air," i. e., take wings and feed on high. Tityrus, 
acknowledging the greatness of his obligations to Augustus, declares 
that the natural and fixed order of things must be reversed before 
he can forget them. — Dcstituent nudos. " Shall leave bare," i. e., 
the fishes shall live on dry ground. 

Ante, pererratis amborum finibus, &c. " Sooner, the boundaries of 
both having been wandered across (by them), shall the Parthian, 
leaving his home, quaff the waters of the Arar, or Germany those 



114 NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 

of the Tigris," &c, i. c, sooner shall the Parthian, leaving the con- 
fines of his land, and passing over the wide intervening portion of 
the globe, come to Germany and quaff the waters of its rivers ; or 
the German, moving east, visit Parthia and drink of the Tigris. 
Two impossible cases are here alluded to. The intervening lands 
were under the Roman sway, and must be conquered by either na- 
tion before either could pass into the territory of the other. 

Exsul. Used here generally for one who has left his native 
land. — Ararim. The Arar, afterward called Sauconna, is now the 
Saone. This river properly belongs to Gaul ; but in the time of 
Virgil, the boundaries of Germany and Gaul were far from being 
strictly settled. Besides, on the map of Eratosthenes, then in 
vogue, the Arar was made to unite the Rhone with the Rhine. 
(Consult Ukert, Geogr. der Gr. und Rom., vol. iii., p. 65, 134, 135, in 
not.) It has been asked, how Virgil's Tityrus could know even 
the names of these rivers. This, however, is easily answered. 
The Germans and Parthians were at that time the two most formi- 
dable enemies of the Roman name, and disbanded soldiers, return- 
ing from those parts of the world, could easily and almost con- 
stantly spread the tidings of these two nations among the lower or- 
ders at home. — Tigrim. As the Euphrates formed the nominal 
boundary of Parthia on the west, the Tigris would, of course, fall 
within the limits of that empire. 

Illius. Alluding to Augustus. 

65-67. At nos hinc. "We, however, will depart hence." Supply 
ibimus. He alludes to himself and all those similarly situated, who 
are driven from their homes, and compelled to wander forth in the 
wide world. Distant countries are then named as the scene of their 
wanderings, but through mere poetic amplification, in order to 
heighten the effect. — Afros. Supply in. The poets frequently use 
the names of nations in the accusative without the preposition. — 
Scythiam. Scythia was a general name given by the Greeks and 
Romans to a large portion of northern Asia. It is here employed 
in poetic opposition to Africa on the south ; and, in the same way, 
Britain, in the remote northwest, is named in opposition to Crete 
in the southeast. 

Et rapidum, &c. Observe that the conjunction et in this line 
stands opposed to the same conjunction in the succeeding verse, in 
the same way that alii and pars are opposed to each other. {Wag- 
ner, Quasi. Virg., xxxiiii., 1.) — Oaxen. Commentators make a dif- 
ficulty here, because none of the ancient writers except Vibius 
Sequester (if he indeed deserve to be called ancient) make men- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 115 

tion of a river in Crete named Oaxes. Some, therefore, propose 
to read Araxcn, as referring to the Araxes, a river of Armenia 
Major ; while others think that the Oxus, a river of Scythia, is 
meant under the poetical appellation of Oaxes. These last join 
rapidus cretce in construction, making cretce the genitive of creta, 
"chalk," and referring to the chalk or white clay by which its stream 
was discoloured. This, however, is puerile. There is every prob- 
ability that there was a river in Crete named Oaxes. There cer- 
tainly was a town in that island named Oaxus (Meurs. Cret., p. 92), 
and it is also known that Crete was sometimes called by the poets 
(Eaxis. (Apoll.Rhod.,i., 1131.) Cramer seeks to identify the Oaxes 
with the Mylopotamo. (Anc. Greece, vol. iii., p. 381.) 

Et penitus toto, &c. " And to the Britons totally separated from 
the whole world." As the ocean encompassed the " orbis ierrarum," 
and Britain lay beyond the ocean, it is said by the poet to lie be- 
yond the confines of the habitable world. 

68-74. En ! unquam, &c. " Ah ! shall I ever, after a long inter- 
val of time, beholding (once more) my paternal fields, and the roof 
of my poor cottage formed of collected turf — shall I ever hereafter 
look with a wondering eye on a few straggling ears of corn, my 
(former flourishing) domain 1" Observe that en! unquam is not, as 
some maintain, for unquamne, but that the true force and pathos of the 
expression lies in en. — Post. Equivalent here to posthac. As regards 
the repetition in longo post tempore followed by post, consult Georg., 
ii., 259, scqq.f where a similar construction*prevails. — Aristas. Er- 
roneously taken by some as equivalent here to messes, i. e., annos, 
and supposed to be governed by post as a preposition. The clause 
merely refers to the desolation that will prevail from neglected hus- 
-bandry under a lawless possessor. 

Impius miles. "A ruffian soldier." — Novalia. "Fields." Supply 
arva. Used here in a general sense for agros. According to Pliny, 
novalis (scil. ager or terra) meant a piece of ground that is sown 
every other year. (Consult note on Georg., i., 71.) — Barbarus. He 
means, in fact, a foreigner or alien, there being many foreigners, 
especially Gauls, at this time in the Roman legions. — En. " See !" 
— Discordia. In allusion to the civil contests. — Quis. " For whom," 
i. e., for whose benefit. We have sown and cultured, that stran- 
gers may reap the harvest. 

Inserc nunc. " Ingraft now." Bitter irony. Observe the force 
of nunc. — Pone ordine vites. " Plant thy vines in rows," i. e., in the 
form of a quincunx. (Compare Georg., ii., 277.) 

75-79. Ite, mece, &c. Meliboeus now proceeds to drive onward 



116 NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 

his flock, when Tityrus looks after him as he departs, and invites 
him to pass the night under his humble roof. — Viridi projectus in 
antro. " Stretched in some mossy cave." The period of the sum- 
mer heats is here indicated. — Dumosd pendere procul de rupe. In al- 
lusion to their feeding in the distance on the steep declivity of some 
rocky height. — Me pascente. " As I feed you." — Florentem cytisum. 
" The flowering cytisus," Marking the season of spring, this plant 
blooming in early spring. The cytisus of Virgil is the Medicago 
marantha, according to Martyn, or the Medicago arborea, L., accord- 
ing to Sprengel, which, however, comes to the same thing. It is 
described by Virgil and other ancient writers as being a great fa- 
vourite with bees and goats, and causing an abundant supply of 
milk. It grows to the height of three or four feet, and bears a pale 
yellow flower. It is a native of southern Italy, and a hot-house 
plant in more northern latitudes. — Carpetis. " Will ye pluck from 
my hand." 

80-84. Poteras requiescere. " Thou mightest have rested." Tity- 
rus observes Melibceus now driving onward his flock, and calls to him 
as he departs. Hence the peculiar propriety of poteras in the indic- 
ative, as marking a thing that might have taken place, but actual- 
ly has not. (Stallb. ad Rudd., L. G., vol. ii., p. 379.) It is errone- 
ous, therefore, to say, as some do, that poteras is here employed for 
posses or poteris. — Fronde super viridi. " Upon a bed of freshly- 
gathered leaves." — Poma. Fruits in general. — Castanece molles. 
" Soft chestnuts," i. e., mellow, full ripe, and sweet and mellow to 
the taste. The Italian chestnut ripens towards the end of October 
or beginning of November. (Plin., H. N., xv., 23.) — Pressi lactis. 
" Of freshly-pressed curd," i. e., curd pressed for immediate use. 

Et jam summa procul, &c. " And now the topmost roofs of the 
farm-houses smoke in the distance." By villa is here meant, of 
course, not the residence of a wealthy landed proprietor, but a 
country or farm house occupied by a person of the middling class ; 
or, as we would say, a substantial farmer. This is shown also by 
the expression summa culmina, as indicating the peak, or highest 
part of the roof, with the smoke escaping there by a simple aper- 
ture. This marks at once an ordinary dwelling, where the even- 
ing meal is preparing, and where the smoke obtains egress by the 
windows, doors, and roof. Chimneys were unknown in buildings 
of this class, and but very seldom employed in those of more costly 
construction. In these last, the rooms were sometimes heated by 
hot air, which was introduced by means of pipes from a furnace be- 
low, but more frequently by portable furnaces or braziers, in which 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE I. 



117 



coal or charcoal was burned. The following wood-cut represents 
such a brazier, found at Caere in Etruria, and now preserved in the 
British Museum. 




118 NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 



ECLOGUE II. 



Subject. 

In this Eclogue, Corydon, a shepherd, expresses his strong at- 
tachment for a youth named Alexis, which feeling, however, as he 
himself complains, is not reciprocated by the latter. 

Voss makes this piece to have been composed by Virgil in the 
spring of A.U.C. 711, the poet being then in his 26th year. 



1-2. Ardebat Alexin. Observe here the employment of an accu- 
sative with an intransitive verb. Many verbs thus obtain a trans- 
itive force, because an action exerted upon another is implied, 
though not described in them. The poets allow themselves great 
latitude on this point. — Delicias domini. " The favourite of his 
master." Alexis was of servile degree. His master was Iollas, 
who is named in verse 57. — Nee, quid speraret, habebat. " Nor had 
he apparently what to hope for," i. e., any ground of hope that his 
attachment to Alexis was reciprocated. Voss considers quid here 
as an archaism for quod, while Heyne thinks that quid speraret is 
the more poetical form of expression. Both are wrong. Habeo 
quod is said of a thing that actually exists ; but habeo quid of that 
about which it is uncertain whether it exists or not, or of what 
kind it may be. Hence, non habebam quod spcrarem means, I had 
no hope at all ; but non habebam quid sperarem, I apparently had no 
hope, there appeared to be no hope. {Wagner, ad loc.) 

3-5. Tantum assidue veniebat. " He only came continually," i. e., 
all that he did was to come continually. — Jlac incondita jactabat. 
Supply carmina. " He threw forth these undigested strains," i. e., 
strains thrown off on the spur of the moment, and showing the dis- 
ordered state of his feelings. Compare the explanation of Voss : 
" Diese kunstlosen Ergiisse der Leidenschaft warf er hin, wie sie 
fielen." — Studio inani. " With unavailing passion." 

7-9. Coges. The future is here the true reading, not the pres- 
ent cogis, which, as Heyne thinks, has more force than the other. 
The meaning is, if you continue to treat me thus, you will drive me 
finally to despair. — Nunc etiam pecudes-, &c. The idea intended to 
be conveyed is this : All other things are quiet and inactive amid 
the blaze of noon ; I alone come hither amid the scorching heat in 
hopes to find you. — Captant. "Eagerly seek." — Virides lacertos. 
The green lizard is very common in Italy. This animal is men- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 119 

tioncd by Theocritus (vii., 22) as marking the time of noon by- 
sleeping in the hedges. The green lizard, according to the best 
authorities, is found only in Guernsey and the south of Europe. It 
is a beautiful animal, and may be readily tamed, and taught to come 
to the hand for its food, and to drink from the hollow of the palm 
of any one to whom it is accustomed. 

10-1 1 . Thcstylis. The name of a female slave. Compare Voss : 
" Eine junge mitsklavin," and also verse 43 of the present Eclogue. — 
Rapido fessis, Sec, " For the reapers, exhausted by the intense 
heat." Observe that rapido here is equivalent to vehemente. The 
sun is called rapidus by the poets, as moving along in rapid course ; 
then with the idea of rapidity of movement is connected that of ex- 
citement and heat, and at last rapidus obtains the meaning which 
it has in our text. — Allia serpyllumque, &e. " Bruises together 
garlic and wild thyme, savoury herbs." These herbs seem to have 
been used by the Roman farmers to recruit the exhausted energies 
of those who had laboured in the heat. Garlic was a great favour- 
ite, also, with the Roman soldiers and sailors. The inhabitants of 
the southern countries of Europe, who often experience the need 
of exciting the digestive powers, hold garlic in much higher estima- 
tion than those of more northern regions. 

Serpyllum. In Greek, cpnv^Tiov, from ep7ro, " to creep" because 
part of it, falling on the ground, sends forth roots, and so propa- 
gates the plant. The ancients mention two kinds of serpyllum, one 
of the gardens, and the other wild. The latter species is here 
meant, answering to our mother of thyme, or wild thyme. 

12-13. Mecum. " In company with me," i. e., accompanying my 
sad strain. — Raucis resonant arbusta cicadis. " The thickets resound 
with the shrill cicadae." Arbusta is here to be taken generally, not 
for the vine-grounds merely. — Cicadis. The cicada, in Greek rir- 
ti^, is a species of insect frequently mentioned by the classical wri- 
ters. According to Dodwell, it is formed like a large fly, and is 
rounder and shorter than our grasshopper : it has long, transparent 
wings, a dark brown back, and a yellow belly. Its song is much 
louder and shriller than that of the grasshopper, as Dodwell terms 
the latter. This writer says that nothing is so piercing as their 
note ; nothing, at the same time, so tiresome and inharmonious ; 
and yet the ancient writers, and especially the poets, praise the 
sweetness of their song, and Plutarch says they were sacred to the 
Muses. According to ^Elian, only the male cicada sings, and that 
in the hottest weather. This is confirmed by the discoveries of 
modern naturalists, according to whom the cicadae sing most in hot 



120 NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 

weather, and in the middle of the day. There is no English name 
for this insect, unless we take Lord Byron's "cicala," from the 
French "cigale." 

14-16. Nonne fuit salius, &c. " Was it not better (for me) to 
endure the sullen, passionate temper of Amaryllis, and her hanghty 
disdain] was it not better to endure Menalcas ?" He thinks his 
condition was far preferable when he sought to gain the love of 
Amaryllis, and on this account patiently endured all her infirmities 
of temper ; or when he strove to secure the attachment of the young 
Menalcas, although he was dark of hue. — Nonne Menalcan. Supply 
pati, in the softened sense of f err c, the only thing to be endured in 
the case of Menalcas being his darkened hue. Observe that, in 
this passage, there is no need whatever of taking fuit for fuisset, as 
some do. 

Quamvis tile niger. " However dark of hue he might be." The 
dark complexion of Menalcas was merely a deeper shade of country 
brown. Compare Heyne : " Erat hie colore fusco ut vcrna ruri natus." 

17-18. Nimium tie crcde colori. " Trust not too much in thy fair 
exterior." Observe the earnestness indicated by the imperative. 
The expression ne credas would convey the prohibition in a milder 
form ; just as in English "you should" is used for the imperative. 
— Alba ligustra cadunt, &c. " The white privet-flowers drop on 
the ground (neglected), the dusky hyacinths are gathered." Martyn 
is quite undecided whether the ligustrum of Virgil be the privet, or 
the great bindweed ; but he inclines to the former. This, in fact, is 
the more correct opinion. (Compare Fee, Flore de Virgile, p. lxxviii., 
Billerbeck, Flora Classica, p. 4, seq.). — Vaccinia. The vaccinium is 
the same as the vaiavdoc of the Greeks. The ^Eolic form was ov- 
aicivdoc, and the diminutive ovaKivQiov or ovaKivvcov, whence the 
Latin vaccinium. Martyn, after examining the point with great care 
(ad Georg., iv., 183), thinks that the particular flower here meant 
under the name of hyacinth is the Lilium floribus reflcxis, or Marta- 
gon, and perhaps the very species that is called Imperial Marlagon. 
(Compare note on Eclog., iii., 63.) 

19-20. Despectus tibi sum, &c. Corydon here boasts of his wealth, 
his skill in music, and the comeliness of his person, and seeks by 
means of these to remove the indifference that Alexis feels towards 
him. — Qui sim. Observe that qui is here another form for quis. 
— Nivei quam lactis, &c. By punctuating after pecoris, we have con- 
nected nivei with lactis, which seems the far more natural arrange- 
ment. White sheep, it is true, were preferred by the Romans, but 
here the point lies not in the colour, but in the fact of ownership, 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 121 

the main idea being dives pccoris sum. So, again, the epithet nivei, 
as applied to lactis here, can hardly be considered tautological, when 
we have the same epithet similarly applied in Tibullus, Ovid, and 
others. Besides, in Greek, we find yaka Xevkov sanctioned by the 
authority of Homer and Theocritus. 

21-22. Mille meat agnce. " A thousand lambs of mine." — Siculis 
in montibus. This language shows at once that the present Eclogue 
is merely an imitation of some Sicilian Greek pastoral, and that 
Spohn is wrong in maintaining that Corydon represents Virgil 
himself, and Alexis a slave of Pollio's named Alexander. (Pro- 
legom. ad Carm. Bucol.) — Lac mihi non (Estate novum, &c. He has 
cows which yield him milk in winter and summer, so that it can be 
served every day fresh at table. 

23-24. Canto, qua solitus, &c. He compares himself in song to 
the Theban Amphion ; for he says that he sings the same strains 
that Amphion did, when the latter wished, by means of these, to 
recall his flocks from their pastures, and lead them home at eve. 
The shepherds were accustomed to mingle song alternately with 
the notes of the pastoral pipe. The strains ascribed here to Am- 
phion are some that were celebrated in early legends. — Amphion. 
Amphion and his brother Zethus were sons of Jove by Antiope, and 
heroes of the pastoral age of the Greeks. Amphion cultivated mu- 
sic with the greatest success, and, according to the legend, built 
the wall of Thebes, causing the stones to take their respective 
places in obedience to the tones of his golden lyre, which he had 
received from Mercury. 

DirccBus. Equivalent here to Thebanus, from Dirce, the wife of 
Lycus, king of Thebes, who treated with great cruelty Antiope, 
the mother of Amphion and Zethus, and was in consequence put 
to death by these latter. They tied her by the hair to a wild bull, and 
let the animal drag her until she was dead. After death she was 
changed into a fountain of the same name, near the city of Thebes. 
—In Actao Aracyntho. "On the Actaean Aracynthus." Aracynthus 
was a mountain on the confines of Bceotia and Attica, and the epi- 
thet Actceus seems to be equivalent to Atticus, " Attic," and to re- 
fer to its lying partly within the latter country, which was called, 
also, Actaa, from its being on two sides shore, i. e., ukttj. Hence 
Sextus {adv. Gramm., i., 12, p. 270) even calls it a mountain of At- 
tica : 'Apdnvvdog rijc 'Am*??? harlv opog. Amphion and Zethus hav- 
ing been abandoned after their birth, were found by a shepherd near 
Eleutherse, their natal place, on the confines of Bceotia and Attica, 

L 



122 NOTES OX ECLOGUE II. 

not far from Aracynthus, and brought up by him. — (Apollod., iii., 5, 
5. — Compare Paus., i., 38.) 

25-27. Nee smn adco informis. " Nor am I so devoid of personal 
attractions." — In littore. He alludes to the clear, calm water near 
the shore, in some retired nook, where his image could easily be 
reflected from the surface. Compare the remarks of Voss in reply 
to the quibbling objection of Servius. — Placidum ventis. <; Undis- 
turbed by the winds." Compare the explanation of Wagner : 
"ventis placatum, stratum.'''' — Daphnin. Daphnis was famed in the 
legends of the Sicilian shepherds for his beauty, and was the son 
of Mercury. He led a pastoral life. — Si nunquam fallit imago. " If 
my image never deceives me," i. e., if the image reflected from the 
water speaks truth, and I am sure it does. Observe- the force of 
the indicative in denoting certainty. The subjunctive fallai is an 
inferior reading, and implies doubt. 

28-30. tantum libeat, &c. " O that it may only please thee to in- 
habit with me the country, that possesses no attractions (for thee)," 
i. e., which appears mean to thee in comparison with the splendour 
of a city life. Compare the explanation of Spohn : Sordida rura, 
quia carent munditia urbana. cultu.^ — Et figere cereos. Heyne main- 
tains that this does not refer to hunting, because such an employ- 
ment is foreign to pastoral life, but to the fixing of forked beams, 
called cervi, with which cottages were propped ; and this is also 
one of the interpretations given by Servius. Nothing, however, 
can be more erroneous. In the first place, hunting does belong to 
the pastoral life, as will readily appear from the following passages : 
Eclog., iii., 12 ; Georg., iv., 404, seqq. ; Columell., vii., 12 ; Gcopon., 
xix., 1, seqq. ; Theocrit., v., 106. In the next place, Alexis is cer- 
tainly not invited to a scene of labour, such as fixing up props ; and 
then, again, the dwelling of Corydon is described as already erect- 
ed, not as requiring erection. 

Hadorumque gregem, &c. " And to drive the flock of goats unto 
the green hibiscus." Observe that hibisco is here in the dative, for 
ad hibiscum. (Consult Voss, ad loc, and Gronov., Diatr., p. 8, seq.) 
By the hibiscus is meant the Althca officinalis, a species of mallow, 
on which the young goats were accustomed to be fed after wean- 
ing. Sibthorp found it growing in the low, wet grounds of Greece. 
(Billerbeck, Flora Class., p. 176.) Some less correctly take hibisco 
for an ablative, and translate " to drive the flock of goats with a 
green switch." As Voss correctly remarks, compellere does not 
mean merely agere, but agere aliquo. — Viridi. Referring to the 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 123 

plant as in a young and tender state, and therefore fitter for brows- 
ing upon. 

31-33. In silvis. The scene now changes to the woodland pas- 
tures among the mountains, as opposed to the meadows where the 
hibiscus grows. — Pan primus calamos, &c. The Pan's pipe, or Pan- 
dean pipe, was the appropriate musical instrument of the Arcadian 
and other Grecian shepherds, and was regarded by them as the in- 
vention of Pan, their tutelary god, who was sometimes heard play- 
ing upon it, as they imagined, on Mount Maenalus. Its Greek name 
was ovpty!;, its Latin appellation, fistula. It was constructed either 
of cane, reed, or hemlock. In general, seven hollow stems of these 
plants were fitted together by means of wax, having been previously 
cut to the proper length, and adjusted so as to form an octave ; but 
sometimes nine were admitted, giving an equal number of notes. 
The annexed wood-cut represents Pan, holding in his right hand a 
drinking horn, and in his left a syrinx, which is strengthened by 
two transverse bands. 




34-39. Nee te pceniicat, &c. "Nor let it repent thee," &c, i. e. f 
nor deem it unworthy of thee, or, in other words, an unbecoming 
employment. — Calamo trivisse labellum. " To have rubbed thy lip 
against the reed," i. e., to have passed the lips along the several 
apertures, the pipes, in blowing on them, being moved along the 
lips. — Quid non faciebat Amyntas. Alluding to a well-known player 
on the syrinx in the neighbourhood, who left no means untried to 
equal the skill of Corydon. — Disparibus septcm, &c. " Formed of 
seven hemlock stalks of unequal length, fastened together." — Da- 
mcttas. A celebrated performer on the syrinx, who left his pipe as 
a legacy to Corydon. — Secundum. "As a second owner," i. e., and 
one deserving to hold it as such. Compare the explanation of 



124 NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 

Voss : " Von dir gebraucht, wird sie ihren vorigen Eigener nicht 
vermissen." 

Dixit Damcetas, &c. The repetition here, dixit Damatas, lays a 
particular stress on the person of the speaker. — Invidit stultus 
Amyntas. Amyntas had foolishly hoped to inherit the pipe, and had 
approached, under this view, the couch of the dying musician. 

40-44. Nee tuta mihi, &c. " Found by me in a dangerous valley." 
The danger arose from the wild beasts that frequented it ; and the 
risk encountered enhanced the value of the intended gift. — Sparsis 
etiam nunc, &c. Observe the force of etiam nunc. In progress of 
time the animals change colour. According to "Wunderlich, hunt- 
ers affirm that young kids, recently born, have their skins marked 
by white spots for the space of about six months. 

Et faciet. " And she will do so," i. e., will succeed in getting 
them from me. He avoids saying dabo, lest this open avowal of 
intention may offend Alexis. — Sordent tibi. "Are paltry in thy 
eyes." 

i 45-47. Hue ades. " Come hither." The shepherd being in doubt 
whether these presents of the pipe and kids are sufficient to attract 
Alexis, renews the invitation by offering him a gift of flowers, to 
be gathered by the hands of the Nymphs, &c. — Lilia. The white 
lilies are those which were most celebrated and best known among 
the ancients. 

Nympha. The imagination of the Greeks peopled all the regions 
of earth and water with beautiful female forms called Nymphs, 
divided into various orders, according to the place of their abode. 
Thus, 1, the Mountain-Nymphs, or Oreades {'Opetddec), haunted the 
mountains (opoc, a mountain) ; 2, the Dale-Nymphs, or Napaa (Na- 
nalaL), the valleys (vutttj, a woodland vale) ; 3, the Mead-Nymphs, or 
Leimoniades (AeifioviuSec), the meads (Xeifiov, a mead) ; 4, the Water- 
Nymphs, or Naiades (Naiddec), the rivers, brooks, and springs (vucj, 
to flow) ; 5, the Lake-Nymphs, or Limniades (Ai/xviddec), the lakes 
and pools (Xl[ivtj, a lake) ; 6, the Tree-Nymphs, or Hamadryades 
(' Afiadpvddec), who were born and died with the trees (a/ia and dpvc) ; 
7, the Wood-Nymphs, or Dryades (ApvdSeg), who presided over the 
forests generally (Spvg) ; and, 8, the Fruit-tree Nymphs, or Meliades 
(Mnhiddec), who watched over gardens, or flocks of sheep, accord- 
ing to the meaning of the term /if/Xov, a tree-fruit, or a sheep. 

Candida Na'is. "A fair Naiad," i. e., water-nymph. — Pallentes 
violas. " Pale violets." The plant here intended is, according to 
Martyn, the stock-gilliflower, or wall-flower, which all botanists, 
with one consent, allow to be what the ancients called Leuco : ium t 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 125 

formed from Xevkov lov, " a white violet." Theophrastus says the 
Leucoium is one of the earliest flowers, appearing even in the win- 
ter, if the weather is mild, but if it is cold, somewhat later, in the 
spring. Pliny, in translating the passage of Theophrastus just re- 
ferred to, calls the flower in question viola alba. As, however, the 
wall-flower is of a yellow hue, it may be asked how the term " pale'' 
comes to be applied to it here. The answer is easy. In the north- 
ern parts of the world, paleness is, indeed, a sort of faint, dead 
whiteness ; but in the warmer countries, where the people are in 
general of a more swarthy complexion, their paleness is rather yel- 
low than white. Hence the Greeks and Romans by paleness do not 
mean whiteness, but a yellow colour or sallowness. — Summa papavcra. 
" The tops of poppies." The kind here meant is the common red 
poppy, which grows wild among the corn. 

48-50. Narcissum. " The daffodil." There can be no doubt that 
the narcissus of the ancients was some species of what we now call 
narcissus, or daffodil. {Martyn, ad Georg:, iv., 122.) — Anethi. The 
anethum of the ancients is our " dill." In Southern Europe it grows 
wild on the rocks. In England, on the other hand, it is sown in 
gardens, and is very like fennel, but differs from it in being an an- 
nual, smaller, not so green, and having broader and leafy seeds of 
a less agreeable flavour. The flower is yellow, like that of fennel, 
but smaller. Sibthorp found it both wild and cultivated in Greece. 
Its frequent use, according to the ancients, injured the sight and 
the physical powers generally: The seeds were deadly to birds. 
Dioscorides speaks of an unguentum ancihinum, and a vinum anethi' 
num. (Diosc, i., 52. — Id., v., 41.) 

Casid. " With the casia." The casta here meant is not the aro- 
matic bark of the East, but a common and well-known European 
plant, namely, the Daphne cucoron, or Thymelcea,. called by some 
"spurge-flax," or "mountain widow-waile." {Martyn, ad Georg., 
ii., 213.) — Mollia luteold, &c. " She sets off the soft hyacinths with 
the yellow marigold." — Pingit. Variegates, diversifies, or decks 
out. — Vaccinia. (Compare note on verse 18.) — Caltha. It is hardly 
possible to determine what flower is here meant. Probability, how- 
ever, is in favour of the marigold. La Cerda is incorrect in making 
it the fiovtydaljioe of Dioscorides. 

51-52. Ipse ego cana, &c. " I myself will gather quinces hoary 
with tender down." Some think that the apricot is here meant, 
but, according to Pliny, this fruit was not known in Italy till thirty 
years before his time, and was sold at a great price. The quince, 
or Malum Cydonium, is a native of Crete, and obtains its name from 

L2 



126 NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 

the city of Cydon in that island. The kind here meant is the apple- 
shaped quince ("malum cotoncum minus,'''' Bauh. pin., 434). It was 
a great favourite on account of its fine odour, and was placed in 
sleeping apartments around the heads of the images that stood 
there. Only one kind of quince was eaten raw, the rest were 
cooked or made into preserves. Modern botanists make three kinds, 
the apple-shaped, pear-shaped, and Portugal quince. 

Castancasque nuces. In the southern parts of Europe chestnuts 
grow so abundantly as to form a very large portion of the food of 
the common people, who, besides eating them both raw and roasted, 
form them into puddings and cakes, and even bread. (Library 
of Ent. Knowl., vol. ii., pt. i., p. 92.) It is, however, not the wild 
castanea which furnishes the nuts that are principally consumed in 
the South of Europe and exclusively imported to more northern 
countries, but a number of cultivated varieties, the nuts of which 
are larger, and the kernels sweeter. (Penny Cyclop., vol. vi., p. 350.) 

53-55. Cerea pruna. "Waxen plums." So called from their 
colour being yellow, like new wax. Hence the epithet ccrina ap- 
plied to this species. Thus Pliny remarks : " Sunt et nigra .... 
pruna . . . . ac laudatiora cerina" (H. N. t xv., 13), and so, also, Ovid 
(Met., xiii., 817) : 

" Prunaque non solum nigro liventia succo, 
Verum etiam generosa novasque imitantia ceras." 

Honos erit huic quoque porno. " Honour will be rendered to this 
fruit also." Thou wilt honour this fruit with thy approbation, even 
as Amaryllis bestowed her attention on the favourite chestnut. — 
Porno. Observe, as before remarked, that pomum is a general term 
for any fruit on trees, &c. 

Lauri. " Bays." The Roman laurus is our " bay." Our laurel 
was hardly known in Europe, remarks Martyn, till the latter end of 
the 16th century, about which time it seems to have been brought 
from Trebizond to Constantinople, and thence into most parts of 
Europe. The laurel differs from the ancient laurus in two respects : 
it has no fine smell, and it is not remarkable for crackling in the 
fire. The first discoverers of the laurel gave it the name of lauro- 
cerasus, because it has a leaf something like a bay, and a fruit like 
a cherry. — Proxima. "Next," i. e., referring to the intended posi- 
tion of the myrtle in the basket, next to the bay, and almost joined 
with it. That this is the true meaning of proxima here, is shown 
plainly enough by the very next line, quaniam sic positce. 

56-57. Rusticus. " A clown," i. e., a very dolt in offering such 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 127 

gifts. — Munera. " Such gifts as thine." Alexis prefers the presents 
and the life of the city, and disdains rural scenes and rural gifts. 
(Compare verse 60.) — Si muncribus certes. "If thou even contend 
with gifts," i. e., seek to gain the favour of Alexis hy other and 
more valuable gifts, such, namely, as would be likely to please an 
inhabitant of the city. — Concedat Iollas. " Will lollas, in all likeli- 
hood, yield to thee," i. e., thou hast little chance of surpassing the 
wealthy Iollas in the splendour of thy gifts. Compare the explana- 
tion of Wagner : " Concedat, i. e., cedat donorum amplitudine." Iollas 
was the master of Alexis. 

58-59. Heu ! heu ! quid volui, &c. Heyne thinks that Corydon 
here alludes to his rank folly in making mention of gifts, when 
Iollas is so well able to surpass him in these. Wagner, on the other 
hand, with far more propriety, makes the accusation of folly consist 
in this, that Corydon is throwing away his peace of mind on a hope- 
less object of pursuit, and one that will produce serious injury to 
him in the neglect of his private affairs. He begins, therefore, to 
return to a better mind ; when all of a sudden, true to nature, he 
flies back to his former passion. — Floribus austrum, &c. " Lost (to 
all reason), I have let in the southern blast among my flowers, and 
the wild boars unto the crystal springs," i. e.,1 have acted with as 
much folly as if I had exposed my flowers to the destructive blast, 
or allowed my pure springs to be defiled and rendered turbid by the 
wild boars, animals of unclean habits, and fond of wallowing in the 
mire. Observe that perditus is here equivalent to perditus amove, i. 
e., aniens. — Austrum. The sirocco, or hot wind of the south, is 
meant, so injurious in its effects to both the vegetable and animal 
world. 

60-62. Quem fugis, &c. The train of thought is as follows : 
Whom dost thou shun 1 Me 1 And because I am an inhabitant of 
the country 1 Why, the very gods themselves have dwelt there ! 
Ay, and men of royal lineage too. — Dt quoque, &c. As, for instance, 
Apollo, while tending the flock of Admetus, in Thessaly. — Darda- 
niusque. Referring to his descent from the royal line of Dardanus. 
Paris, in early life, and before his true lineage was known, was a 
shepherd on Mount Ida. 

Pallas, quas condidit, &c. " Let Pallas inhabit by herself the cita- 
dels she hath erected." Pallas Athene, or Minerva, the goddess 
of skilful inventions both in peace and war, first taught men to build 
dwellings and erect fortified cities. Hence she was styled noXcov- 
Xoq, " city-protectress ;" iro?itdc, " guardian of the city ;" unpaid, 
" dwelling on heights ;" these early cities being generally erected, 



128 NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 

for greater safety, on eminences, and having a citadel or fortress 
attached. This idea was prevalent throughout the whole Grecian 
world, but particularly so at Athens, where the aKponolic, or citadel, 
was under her immediate protection. We must not, however, on 
the present occasion, limit arces in the text to Athens- merely, but 
give it a general reference to all citadels, that is, to all walled towns, 
in opposition to the free country ; and the idea intended to be con- 
veyed must be regarded as the following ; Leave the cold and stern 
Goddess of Wisdom to dwell by herself in the walled cities which 
she has taught men to erect, and come and live with me amid the 
freedom of rural scenes. 

Condidit. Equivalent, in effect, to condere docuit. (Voss, ad loc.) 
— Ipsa. As regards the peculiar force of ipsa here, compare the 
explanation of Wagner: "ipsa, non tu cum Ma." (Quast. Virg., 
xviii., 2, c.) — Nobis. Himself and Alexis. 

63-65. Sequitur. Used in a different sense here from that in 
verse 65, but still there larks in both the common idea of seeking 
with earnestness. — Lupus ipse. " The wolf on its part." Equiva- 
lent to the Greek 7mkoc 6' av. (Wagn., Quasi. Virg., xviii., 2, a.) — 
Cytisum. (Consult note on Eclog., i., 79.) — Trahitsua quemque, &c. 
" His own particular inclination draws each one on ;" more liter- 
ally, " drags," as indicating the difficulty of resisting the impulse. 

66-67. Aratra jugo referunt, -&c. " The steers are bearing hence 
the plough hung upon the yoke." In construction, join suspcnsa 
jugo, i. e., suspensa ex jugo, and not jugo referunt, as Spohn directs. 
When the ploughman had finished his day's labour, he turned the 
plough upside down, and the oxen went home dragging its tail and 
handle over the surface of the ground. The plough may then be 
said to hang, as it were, on the ox-yoke. Compare Horace (Epod.^ 
ii. r 63) : 

" Videre fessos vomcrcm inversum boxes 
Collo trahentes languido." 
Et sol crescentes, &c. " And the departing sun doubles the increas- 
ing shadows." Palladius informs us that the country people, 
who were accustomed to compute their time by the length of the 
shadows proceeding from objects, had, during the longest days, a 
shadow of twelve feet at the tenth hour of the natural day, but at 
the eleventh one of twenty-three feet, nearly double. Hence the 
force of duplicat in the text. (Pailad., iii., 327.) Observe that Co- 
rydon's lament has lasted from noon till evening. 

70-72. Semiputata est. " Hangs half pruned." His indulgence in 
a fruitless attachment has caused the suspension of rural labours, 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE II. 129 

and done injury in consequence to his affairs. Vines were pruned 
twice every year : once in the summer season, and again in the 
fall. — Frondosa. Observe that not only the vine itself, but the tree 
also along which it was trained underwent pruning. — Ulmo. The 
elm was chosen particularly for the training of vines. 

Quin lu aliquid, &c. " Why dost thou not rather get ready to 
weave of osiers and pliant rush some one at least of those things 
the use of which is needed," i. e. } baskets, cheese-holders, and oth- 
er things of the kind that are wanted on a farm. Observe the 
force of saltern, " some one at least," no matter how small or unim- 
portant ; hence aliquid saltern is the same as aliquid quantumvis cx- 
iguum. — Detexere. Equivalent to texendo absolvere. — Alium. Ob- 
serve the force of alius here, as implying that there are many oth- 
ers as good as he, and equally attractive. Corydon, therefore, will 
not eventually miss him. 



130 NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 



ECLOGUE III. 

Subject. 

This Eclogue exhibits a contest between two shepherds, in what 
has been called amcebaean verse, in which the persons introduced 
recite or sing alternate strains, the one striving to excel the other. 
Menalcas and Damcetas, after indulging in some rustic raillery, re- 
solve to contend for the prize of two bowls, or cups, which they 
mutually stake, appointing, at the same time, a neighbouring shep- 
herd to be the judge of their performances. They boast of their 
respective fair ones, sing the praises of Pollio, and propose some 
absurd enigmas. The poet seems to have laid it down as an indis- 
pensable rule in these amcebsean verses, that the rival swains 
should answer each other in exactly the same number of lines. 
Through the whole Eclogue the Roman poet has closely imitated 
his Grecian predecessor Theocritus ; and it is the only one of his 
pastoral productions in which he has exhibited the coarseness of 
his original. (Dunlop, Hist. Rom. Lit., vol. iii., p. 117.) The title 
" Palaemon" is given to the Eclogue from the name of the umpire. 

Voss makes this Eclogue to have been composed by Virgil in the 
spring of A.U.C. 712, the poet being then in his 27th year. 



1-6. Cujumpecus ? " Whose flock (is this) ! w Cujum is here the 
neuter of the earlier pronominal adjective cujus, -a, -urn, " whose," 
&c. Though obsolete in the polished dialect of the city, it is here 
retained in the language of country life, where so many old forms 
are accustomed to linger. The resemblance in sound, and of course 
in meaning, between cujus and the English " whose" is very stri- 
king. (Compare Donaldson's Varronia?ms, p. 200, 233.) — An Meli- 
bosi. "Is it Melibceus's?" Observe that an here properly car- 
ries with it an air of doubt, and the true meaning of the clause is 
this, "It is not Melibceus's, is it 1" (Consult Beier, ad Cic, Off., 
i., 15, § 48.) 

Tradidit. " Intrusted it to my care." JSgon sits by the side of 
Neasra, preferring his suit, and intrusts his flock, meanwhile, to a 
hireling. — Infelix semper. The flock are here represented as ever 
unfortunate, both on account of their master, who neglects his af- 
fairs, and on account of their keeper, who is a mere hireling, and 
feels no interest for them. — Fovet. " Prefers his suit unto." 

Hie alienus custos. " This hireling keeper." He is called aJicnus , 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 131 

literally, a mere stranger, one who knows little of the flock, and 
cares little for its comfort. — Bis midget in hord. Dishonest under- 
keepers were accustomed to milk the flocks secretly, and dispose 
of the milk for their own advantage. This offence was punished 
in the time of Justinian with stripes and loss of wages. — Et succus 
pecori, &c. "And (thus) their strength is secretly taken from the 
mothers, and their milk from the lambs ;" more literally, " their 
juice is secretly taken from the flock," i. e., juice, or animal lymph, 
which gives strength to the mother, and a nutritive quality to her 
milk. {Edwards, ad loc.) Observe that, in place of et succus, the 
prose form of expression would be quo succus. 

7-9. Parcius ista viris, &c. " Still, however, bear in mind that 
these reproaches of thine ought to be made more sparingly against 
men." The term viris is meant to be emphatic here, and the 
meaning of the clause is as follows : What if I am a hireling 1 still, 
however, I am a man, and stained by no unmanly vices ; which is 
more than thou canst say. Persons like thee should be cautious 
how they heap reproaches upon those who are far purer than them- 
selves. 

Novimus et qui te, &c. " We know both who made thee a part- 
ner in guilt, when the very he-goats turned away their looks, and 
in what sacred grot, but the good-natured Nymphs (only) laughed," 
i. e., did not punish this act of profanation. The allusion is to some 
act of guilt, rendered doubly heinous by the sacred character of the 
place. With te supply corruperit, or some equivalent term, which is 
here suppressed by euphemism. — Transversa tuentibus. We have 
given the version of Wagner. The common translation is, " while 
the he-goats looked askance." — Sacello. According to Festus, sa- 
cellum means properly a consecrated place open to the sky. Com- 
monly, however, it rs taken to signify a small chapel. In the pres- 
ent instance, it appears to indicate a grotto sacred to the Nymphs, 
near some spring or fountain-head where the flocks were accus- 
tomed to repose during the midday heats. 

10-11. Tunc, credo, &c. Menalcas here answers ironically, that 
it was when he maliciously injured Mycon's vineyard, insinuating 
all the while that Damcetas was actually guilty of such an act. 
Maliciously injuring trees, and especially vines, was punished with 
a fine by the laws of the Twelve Tables. Subsequent legislators, 
however, inflicted the same punishment as in the case of robbery, 
namely, cutting off" the hand. We have adopted tunc with Jahn, 
instead of the common reading turn, the former expressing the time 
more specifically. (Compare Lindemann, de Adv. Lat. Spec, i., p, 
10, seqq.) 



132 NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 

Quum me arbustum, &c. "When they saw me hack the elm 
grove of Mycon and his young vines with malicious bill," i. e., when 
they, namely, the Nymphs. — Arbustum. Equivalent here to mari- 
tatas ulmos, and referring to the elms along which the vines were 
trained. The full-grown vines, therefore, suffer also. On the other 
hand, the vites novella are the very young vines, only recently plant- 
ed, still lowly in size, and which have not, as yet, begun to twine 
around the trees. (Spohn, ad loc.) 

12-15. Aut hie, ad veteres fagos, &c. Damcetas recriminates, and 
charges Menalcas with an act of equal maliciousness. — Fagos. 
(Consult note on Eclcg., i., 1.) — Arcum et calamos. Bows and arrows 
would be required by the shepherds to defend their flocks against 
wild beasts and robbers, and would also be used in hunting. — Per- 
verse. " Malignant." Compare the explanation of Forcellini : " In- 
terdum est malevolus, malignus, tanquam si perversis obliquisque ocu- 
lis alterius bona aspiciat." 

> Puero. Daphnis, as Voss correctly remarks. — Donata. Given to 
him by some third person. Observe the employment of the neuter 
here as referring to inanimate objects, namely, " arcum et calamos." 
— Aliqud. "In some way." Supply ratione or via. — Nocuisses. Sup- 
ply Mis. 

16-20. Quid domini faciant, &c. This is commonly understood 
as meaning, What may be expected from their masters, when thiev- 
ish servants show so much presumption 1 and it is regarded as an 
attack on both his rival JEgon and Damcetas. Wagner's explana- 
tion, however, is far better, and much more natural, namely : I 
see in thee a most audacious thief; what, then, has not a master 
to fear from such a servant 1 For it is most likely that he who, 
like thyself, makes free with the property of his neighbour, will re- 
strain himself in a far less degree from those things that are nearer 
at hand, and which invite to theft, namely, the .property of his own 
master. How" then, shall masters be able to protect their own 
against such plunderers as these 1 In other words, " what are they 
to do ?" (quid faciant ?) Do what they may, they cannot save them- 
selves. The foregoing explanation shows the propriety of faciant 
as a reading, not facient, as some editions give it. 

Non ego te vidi, &c. He now proceeds to charge Damcetas with 
an act of theft, to which he himself was a witness. — Excipere insi- 
diis. " Entrap." — Lycisca. The name of a dog, half dog, half wolf ; 
or, in other words, begotten by a wolf. Pliny says that these were 
common in Gaul. (H. N., viii., 61.)— Quo nunc sc proripit tile? 
" Whither now is von fellow taking himself off 7 " Observe the 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 133 

force of Me, as denoting one at some distance. — Tityre, coge pecus. 
Menalcas now calls out to Tityrus, who had charge of Damon's 
goats, to gather together his flock, since a thief, Damcetas, was 
among them. — Tu post carecta latebas. Observe that carectum is 
properly a place covered with the carex. " Thou didst skulk behind 
the rushes." It is difficult, as Martyn observes, to determine what 
the carex itself is, from what the ancients have said of it. We 
must, therefore, depend upon the authority of Anguillara, who as- 
sures us that, about Padua and Vincenza, they call a sort of rush 
careze ; which seems to be the old word carex modernized. Caspar 
Bauhin says it is that sort of rush which he has called Juncus acu- 
tus panicula sparsa. It is therefore, adds Martyn, our common hard 
rush, which grows in pastures, and by waysides in a moist soil. It 
is more solid, hard, and prickly at the point than our common soft 
rush, which seems to be what the ancients called juncus. {Martyn, 
ad Georg., iii., 231.) 

21-24. An mihi, cantando, &c. " Could not that same one, on 
being beaten in singing, have given me up the goat, which my pipe, 
with its strains, had won 1 ?" Damcetas admits the taking of the goat, 
but insists that it belonged of right to him, as a prize fairly won in 
a contest of song. — Hie. Observe the force of this pronoun here in 
distinguishing or marking out : "that same one," i. e., that same 
Damon. — Carminibus. In these musical contests they commonly 
played on the pipe or syrinx, in the intervals between the two parts 
of a song ; hence the carmina, or " strains," are the parts of the 
song, after which the music comes. — Fistula. (Consult note on 
Eclog., ii., 32.) 

Si nescis. " If thou art unacquainted (with the fact, I will tell 
thee)," i. e., to let thee know. Equivalent to ut hoc scias, or ne hoc 
ignores. ^-Ipse fatebatur. Damon, according to the story of Damce- 
tas, confessed to him in private that the goat was his of right, but 
excused himself from giving it up, and apparently for no other rea- 
son than that such a surrender on his part would be tantamount 
to an open avowal of defeat. 

25-27. Cantando tu ilium ? Supply vicisse le ais. — Fistula cerd junc- 
fa, &c. He doubts whether he was ever the owner of a syrinx. (Con- 
sult note on Eclog., ii., 32.) — Non tu in triviis, &c. " Wast thou not 
accustomed, thou blockhead, to murder some wretched tune in the 
cross- ways, on a screaking straw ?" — Triviis. By tritium is meant 
" a place where three ways meet ;" it then gets the signification of 
11 a place of public resort," especially for the lower orders. — Stridenti. 
A verbal adjective, not a participle. Hence the remark of Spohn, 

M 



134 NOTES ON ECLOGUE II L. 

"non, quae nunc stridet, sed quae omnino.''' — Stipuld. Referring to 
a pipe of simplest construction, made of a single straw or reed. 
(Consult note on Eclog., i., 2.) — Disperdere. Equivalent to male 
perdere, just as dispeream is the same with male peream. (Compare, 
moreover, Propertius, ii., 33, 10 : " Duro perdere verba sono.") 

28-31. Vis ergo. "Art thou willing, then !'? Observe that visne 
and vin' tu merely interrogate, but that vis and vis tu are meant to 
arouse. (Spohn, ad loc.) — Vicissim. "By turns," i. e., in amoebean 
strain. (Consult Introductory Remarks to this Eclogue.) — Hanc 
vitulam. "This heifer." Observe that vitula is here put for juven- 
ca. — Ne forte recuses. To prevent his refusing the stake as a mean 
one, he enumerates the good qualities of the heifer. She comes 
twice to be milked, although she suckles twins. — Binos. For Duos. 
The poets often use the distributive for the cardinal numbers. — 
Quo pignore. " For what bet." The same as quo pignore posito. 

33-37. Injusta noverca. "A harsh stepmother." Theocritus, 
from whom this is imitated, is more true to nature : k-n-d xo-/sit6c 
i?' 6 ivarrjp fiev X' a iiar-qp. " Since both my father is cros-s, and my 
mother also." {Idyll., viii., 15.) — Bisque die numcrant, &c. (Com- 
pare Ovid, Met., xiii., 824 : "Pauperis est numerare pecus.'''') — Alter. 
" One or the other of them." Observe that the counting takes 
place in the morning when they are led out to pasture, and again in 
the evening when they return home. — Insanire. " To show thy 
mad folly (in contending with me)." Supply mecum certando. 

Pocula fagina. " A pair of beechen cups." Observe the force of 
the plural. Drinking-cups, as Voss remarks, were usually in pairs : 
one for wine, the other for water ; and he refers, in support of his 
opinion, to Cic, in Terr., and also to Horace, Sat., i., 6, 117, " lapis 
albas Pocula cum cyatho duo sustinet." The cyathus here mentioned 
was a small ladle, by means of which the wine and water were 
mixed, or else taken from the crater, or large vessel, ready mixed, 
and transferred to the cups. 

Alcimedontis. According to Ciampi (Dissert. deW antica toreutica), 
this Alcimedon was not a shepherd, but a famous artist. Jahn, on 
the other hand, maintains that the name is a fictitious one ; while 
Sillig, again, inclines to the opinion that he was a contemporary of 
Virgil's. (Diet. Artif., s. v.) 

38^i0. Lenta quibus torno, &c. " A bending vine, superadded to 
which, mantles (with its foliage) the clustering berries, put forth 
everywhere in profusion by the pale ivy." On each cup was carv- 
ed in relief a vine intertwining with an ivy, and partially conceal- 
ing with its foliage the clustering ivy-berries scattered in rieh pro- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE 111. 135 

fusion around. — Torno. Equivalent here to ccclo. — Facili. The 
same, in effect, as doctd et peritd manu tractato. — Diffusos hederd pal- 
lente. Compare the explanation of Doring : " Ex hederd enatos, et 
hue illuc disperses." — Pallente. Marty n thinks that Virgil means 
here the kind of ivy with yellow berries, which was used for the 
garlands with which poets were crowned, or the Hedera baccis au- 
rcis. The edges of the leaves approach to white. (JSlartyn, ad Ec- 
log., vii., 38.) 

In medio. The intertwined vine and ivy enclose a circular space 
or field, on which are carved two figures. — Conon. A celebrated 
mathematician and astronomer, who flourished about the time of 
Ptolemy Philadelphus. He was a friend of Archimedes, and is 
mentioned by the latter in his writings as having a great knowledge 
of geometry. Conon was the proposer of the spiral which bears 
the name of Archimedes. — Et quis fuit alter. A true example of 
pastoral simplicity. The shepherd forgets the name of the other 
mathematician, and describes him by his works. Commentators 
are divided in opinion as to the person meant. Voss is in favour 
of Eudoxus of Cnidos. The scholia published by Mai, besides Ara- 
tus and Eudoxus, name Archimedes, Hipparchus, Eudaemon, Eu- 
clid, and even Hesiod. Servius mentions Ptolemy among others ; 
but Ptolemy flourished 150 years later than Virgil. 

41-43. Descripsit radio, &c. " Who described with his rod the 
whole sphere to the nations, (showing) what seasons the reaper, 
what the bending ploughman should observe." The radius is here 
the staff or rod, used by the ancient mathematicians in describing 
the various parts of the heavens and earth, and in drawing geomet- 
rical figures in sand. — Tolum orbem. The whole system of the 
heavenly bodies. — Tempora qua messor, &e. The reference is to 
prognostications of weather, arrangement of seasons, &c, as de- 
duced from the movements of the heavenly bodies ; at the rising or 
setting of what constellation, for example, the husbandman should 
commence certain labours, &c. — Curvus. Equivalent to curvato 
corpore incumbens aratro. 

Necdum Mis labra admovi, &c. Imitated, again, from Theocritus, 
Id., i., 59. Ovd' en na tcotI ^£iAof hfibv -&iyev, k. t. "k. 

45-48. Et molli circum, &c. Each of this second pair of cups has 
carved on it in relief the acanthus, which, after enclosing a field 
or area, is represented as twining around the handles. — Acantko. 
Linnaeus distinguishes two kinds of acanthus, namely, the Acan- 
thus mollis, and the Acanthus spinosus. The former is the modern 
Brankursine, and appears to be here meant. Its stem is about two 



136 NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 

feet high, and is covered from the middle to the top with fine, large 
white flowers, slightly tinged with yellow. The leaves are large, 
soft, deeply cut, hairy, and shining, and surround the lower part only 
of the stem. The A. spinosus, on the other hand, is a prickly plant. 
Theophrastus mentions a third kind of acanthus, which appears to 
be the same with the Acacia Arabica, whence gum Arabic is obtained. 
Sihasque sequentes. Alluding to the fable of Orpheus, and his 
having, by the power of music, caused the very trees of the forest 
to follow him. — Si ad vitulam spectas, &c. "If thou look to the 
heifer, there is no reason why thou art to extol thy cups," i. c, 
compared with the heifer, thy cups are far inferior, and not what 
thou hast boasted them to be. Menalcas had boasted of his cups 
in verse 35. Damoetas here replies to him, that his cups were by 
no means an equal stake with the heifer ; intending, at the same 
time, to convey this meaning : Do not talk, therefore, of staking a 
mere pair of cups, for I myself have a pair as good as thine ; but I 
consider them as forming too mean a stake. Match, rather, my 
heifer with another of the same value. 

49-51. Nunquam hodie cffugies. Menalcas, misunderstanding, 
either actually or pretendedly, the drift of his opponent's remark, 
considers him as wishing to decline the contest, because the stakes 
are unequal. He tells him, therefore, that he is not going to get 
off in this way ; that, rather than allow the matter to end so, he, 
Menalcas, will engage with him on his own terms, and will stake 
heifer against heifer, whatever the consequences may be. — Veniam, 
quocunque vocdris. " I will come whithersoever thou mayest have 
called," i. c, I will meet thee on thy own terms. He here express- 
es his willingness to contend with him for the stake of a heifer, 
having changed his previous resolve. (Heyne, ad loc. ) 

Audiat hcec tantum, &c. " Let even whoever it may be, that is 
coming, but hear these (strains of ours). See ! 'tis Palaemon," i. e., 
let any one that comes this way, no matter who, be the umpire in 
our dispute. — Ejjiciam, &c. " I'll bring it to pass, that thou shalt 
never hereafter," &c. This line is incorrectly punctuated in most 
editions, a comma being placed after, not before posthac. 

52-59. Quin age, &c. " Come on then, if thou hast aught to 
sing," i. e., if thou canst sing at all. — Nee queynquam fugio. " Nor 
do I shun any one," i. e., any opponent. Equivalent, as Yoss and 
Wagner remark, to "nee tc nee alium quemquam fugio." Heyne, 
with less propriety, supplies judicem, " Nor do I refuse any one as 
judge." — Sensibus hcec imis, &c. " Lay up these strains in thy deep- 
est thoughts, the wager is not one of small value," L c., pay careful 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 137 

attention to our respective strains ; the heifer which we each have 
staked forms a prize well worth contending for. 

Dicite. " Say on," i. e., begin. — Et nunc. "Now too." — Incipe, 
Damata. Damcetas, as the party attacked, has the privilege of 
singing first. This would be, in fact, an important privilege, since 
Damcetas might begin with some strain previously composed by 
himself, and Menalcas would be compelled, by the rules of the con- 
test, to follow in imitation without a moment's delay. (Voss, ad 
loc.) — Amant alterna Camcena. " The Muses love alternate strains," 
i. c, an amcebean contest, on account of the wide field which it 
affords for ingenuity, quickness of invention, and poetic skill. 

60-63. Jovis omnia plena. Imitated from Aratus, who has bor- 
rowed the idea from the Stoic doctrine of the " Anima Mundi," or 
an intelligent spirit pervading the universe as its Soul. (Compare 
Georg., iv., 220, seqq.) — Ille colit terras. "He fosters the fields." 
The meaning of Damcetas is this : All things are full of Jove, the 
country itself, too ; he fosters the vegetation of the fields ; he loves 
the shepherd's song. 

Et me Phoebus amat. "And me Phoebus loves." Phoebus is here 
opposed to Jupiter, and the meaning of Menalcas is as follows : 
Jove, thou sayest, loves thy strains ; and Phoebus, I say in reply, 
loves those that are mine. It is better to be aided in song by Phoe- 
bus than by Jove. Observe here the peculiar force of et, which has 
not the force of also, as Wagner maintains. — Munera sunt. "His 
appropriate gifts," i. e., the gifts that he loves. — Lauri. The bay 
was dear to Apollo, on account of the transformation of Daphne 
into that tree. In like manner, the hyacinth w^as a favourite with 
the god, because it sprang from the blood of his beloved Hyacin- 
thus, whom he accidentally killed with a quoit. As regards the an- 
cient Laurus, consult note on Eclog., ii., 54. 

Suave rubens hyacinthus. " The sweet blushing hyacinth." The 
epithet rubens has reference to a sort of crimson hue, the colour 
of human blood. (Consult note on Eclog., ii., 18, and also on verse 
106 of the present Eclogue.) 

64-65. Malo me petit. "Throws an apple at me;" literally, 
" seeks (i. e., attacks) me with an apple." The apple, under the 
Latin name of which (malum) the Romans comprehended also the 
quince, the pomegranate, the citron, the peach, &c, was sacred to 
Venus, whose statues sometimes bore a poppy in one hand and an 
apple in the other. A present of an apple, or a partaking of an ap- 
ple with another, was a mark of affection, and so, also, to throw an 
apple at one. To dream of apples was also deemed by lovers a 
Ms 



138 NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 

good omen. Observe that the two competitors here utter alter- 
nately five erotic couplets each, which do not contain, however, any 
actual reference to their own case, but are merely so many inge- 
nious fictions. 

Salices. Willows were planted out in extensive grounds, for the 
purpose of affording willow-bands and props for vines. They were 
ranged in a quincunx, five or six feet apart, and in the intervals 
between them a kind of wild vine, called salicaslrum, used to spring 
up, and run along the trees. (Plin., H. N., xxiii., 1, 15.) — Ante. 
"Before she hides herself among them." 

66-69. Meus ignis. " My favourite." — Mea Veneri. " For my 
beloved." — Ipse. " With my own eyes," i. e., in my eagerness to 
make her a suitable present. — Atria quo congcssere palumbcs. 
" Where the wood-pigeons, that build on high, have erected their 
nest." The wood-pigeon builds its nest on the tops of high trees, 
and in clefts of the rock. (Compare note on Eclog., i., 59.) — With 
congcssere supply nidum. The term properly applies to the bringing 
together of materials for the nest. 

70-71. Quodpotui. "All that I could do." To be construed at 
the end of the sentence — Lccla. "Picked." — Aurea mala decern. 
"Ten golden apples." The ordinary apple is meant, not, as some 
maintain, the quince. The latter fruit grows in gardens, whereas 
Menalcas selects his from a tree in the wood. He is said, too, to 
have " picked them," that is, selected ripe ones, whereas the quince 
was loved more for its perfume than its taste. And then, again, 
quinces grow on low-sized trees ; but Amyntas, by his " quod po- 
tui," shows that he culled his fruit with considerable difficulty, for 
it was picked from a lofty tree. Hence, too, the apples growing on 
high, and sent to the boy Amyntas, are intended to be opposed to 
the " Atria, palumbes" that are to be sent to Galatea. (Spohn, ad 
loc.) Some commentators think that pomegranates are meant, but 
then the epithet would have been purpurea, not aurea. 

72-75. Partem aliquant, venti, &c. The explanation of Servius is 
the true one : " Ita mecum dulce locuta est Galatea, ut deorum audita 
ejus digna sint verba." According to some, the shepherd prays that 
the winds may bear a portion of what she has said to him unto the 
ears of the gods, in order that they might be witnesses to her vows, 
and compel her to keep her word. Not so, however. He prays 
that some small portion of the many things she has told him may 
be wafted to the ears of the gods ; for, so delightful are these same 
things, that they will charm the very gods themselves. (Wagner, 
ad loc.) 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 139 

Quid prodcst, &c. He complains that Amyntas, though enter- 
taining a regard for him, still will not let him share the dangers to 
which he exposes himself in the chase, but that, while the other is 
pursuing the wild boars, he is compelled to remain tamely at the 
nets, and watch if any animals are caught in them. — Servo. " I 
keep." The net-keeper was called, in Greek, XivSttttjc. Hence 
Pollux remarks (V. Seg., 17), 2.cv6tttt}c, 6 ra kfiitLiTTovTa ('cttoo-kottov- 
fievoc. 

76-77. Phyllida mitte mihi, &c. He sarcastically requests Iollas 
to send him his female slave Phyllis, in order that she may take 
part in the carousals attendant on the celebration of his birth-day. 
When the festival of the Ambarvalia, however, is to take place, he 
may come himself. — Cum faciam vituld, &c. " When I shall offer 
a heifer in sacrifice for the fruits of the earth ;" literally, " when 
I shall make a sacrifice with a heifer." Supply sacra after faciam. 
Compare the similar usage in Greek, /6efat v:rep Aavauv (II., i., 444) ; 
and again, with the ellipsis supplied, lepa fre^ac (II., i., 147.) — Pro 
frugibus. The festival of the Ambarvalia is alluded to. On this 
occasion the victim was led three times round the corn-fields be- 
fore the sickle was put to the corn. This victim was accompanied 
by a crowd of merry-makers, the reapers and farm-servants dan- 
cing and singing, as they marched along, the praises of Ceres, and 
praying for her favour and presence, while they offered her liba- 
tions of milk, honey, and wine. 

78-79. Phyllida amo ante alias, &c. As a key to this passage, 
we must either suppose that Damcetas was hitting at Menalcas un- 
der the name of Iollas, or else (what appears more natural) that 
Menalcas, for the sake of replying to his opponent, assumes the 
character and name of Iollas for the time being. — Longum. " In 
long-drawn accents." Equivalent to voce in longum productd. 
Heyne, less correctly, explains it by in longum. The explanation 
we have given, and which is that of Jahn and Wagner, is confirmed 
by the repetition of vale. 

80-83. Triste lupus stabulis. " The wolf is a sad thing for the 
folds." Damcetas now makes another topic the burden of his song, 
and declares that nothing is more dreadful in his opinion than the 
anger of Amaryllis. Menalcas answers, that nothing is more de- 
lightful to him than Amyntas. — Dulce satis humor. «' Rain is a de- 
lightful thing to the sown corn." — Depulsis arbutus hadis. " The 
arbute to the weaned kids." With depulsis supply a lacte, and com- 
pare Eclog., vii., 15, where the full expression is given. — Arbutus. 
The arbute, or wild strawberry-tree, bears a fruit that has very 



140 NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 

much the appearance of our strawberry, but is larger, and has not 
the seeds on the outside of the pulp, like that fruit. The arbute 
grows plentifully in Italy ; and the poets have supposed that the 
early race of men lived on acorns and the fruit of this tree before 
the discovery and cultivation of corn. It formed, also, a favourite 
food for the young kids. The berries of the tree, however, are 
•hardly eatable. When taken in too great quantities, they are said 
to be narcotic ; and Pliny informs us that the term unedo was fa- 
miliarly applied to this fruit, because it was unsafe to eat more 
than one (unus, " one," and cdo, " to eat.'" Plin., H. N., xix., 24). 

84-87. Pollio amat nostram, &c. Damoetas introduces a new 
subject, and boasts that Pollio is fond of his poetry. Menalcas 
seizes the opportunity thus afforded him of praising Pollio as being 
a poet himself. — The individual here meant is the well-known C. 
Asinius Pollio, a patriot during the times of the Republic ; then a 
favourite and devoted follower of Julius Caesar ; and afterward a 
commander under Antony. While occupying the north of Italy for 
the Antonian party, he had become the friend and patron of Virgil. 
After triumphing over the Dalmatians, he led a private life under 
Augustus, and devoted himself to literary composition and the pat- 
ronage of literary men. At the time when the present Eclogue was 
composed, he is supposed to have just returned from a campaign 
against the Dalmatians, in which he had been very successful, and 
had gone to Rome to enjoy a triumph. Hence the allusion to a 
sacrifice for his safe and glorious return. 

Pierides, vitulam, &c. " Ye muses, feed a heifer for your read- 
er." The muses were called Pierides from Pieria, a region of 
Macedonia, directly north of Thessaly, where they were born of 
Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory. — Vitulam. For a sacrifice, in 
commemoration of his triumph. — Lectori vestro. For him who 
deigns to read the works that owe their existence to the inspiration 
of the muses. The allusion is to Pollio, as the patron of poets and 
literary men in general. 

86-89. Facit nova carmina. " Composes unrivalled strains." 
Pollio was not only distinguished as a public man, but also for his 
cultivation of the noblest branches of polite literature, namely, po- 
etry, eloquence, and history, in which last department Seneca pre- 
fers his style to that of Livy. — Jam cornu petat. " Which already 
butts with his horn." A young steer is to be immolated in his 
honour, according to Damoetas, as a type of his strains, full of fire 
and life. 

Gaudct. Supply venisse. Let him attain to the same honours of 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IK. 141 

song to which he rejoices that thou hast attained. In other words, 
let him become equally eminent as a poet. — Mella jiuant Mi. "May 
the honey flow for him in abundant streams." Observe the force 
of the plural. — Amomum. "Amomum." A plant and perfume, 
with regard to which both commentators and botanical writers are 
very much divided in opinion. The most probable explanation is 
that of Fee, who makes the plant in question the same with our 
Amomum raccmosum. The Romans obtained their amomum from 
Syria, and it came into the latter country by the overland trade from 
India. The taste of the grains is represented by Charas as tart, 
fragrant, very aromatic, and remaining a good while in the mouth. 
{Fee, Flore de Virgile, p. xvi.) 

90-91. Qui Bavium non odit, &c. Menalcas now changes the 
subject from the admirers of Pollio to his detractors ; and as Da- 
mcetas had wished all success to the former, so he expresses in his 
turn the greatest contempt for the latter. Bavius and Maevius are 
supposed by Voss to have criticised some of Pollio's tragedies, and 
in this way to have given offence to his admirers. Their names 
have come down to posterity as those of wretched poets, and de- 
tractors from eminent writers ; and yet, perhaps, some injustice 
has been done them, since they would seem to have belonged to 
that school (quite numerous at the time) who were admirers of the 
earlier Roman poetry, and strove to stem the torrent of Grecian 
novelties that were now pouring in on Roman literature. (Consult 
Voss, ad loc.) 

Jungat vulpes. "Yoke foxes to the plough." This and the ex- 
pression immediately following are proverbial ones, and are intended 
to denote what is palpably absurd. Compare Lucian ( Vit. Dcmonact. , 
vol. i., p. 865, ed. 1687), rpdyov afj.e2.yeiv. Menalcas here means 
that the admirers of Bavius and Maevius are capable of employing 
themselves in the grossest absurdities. 

92-95. Qui legitis flores, &c. The subject again changes. Da- 
mcetas imagines a party of shepherd boys busily employed in gath- 
ering wild flowers for chaplets, and picking strawberries. One of 
their number, on a sudden, springs back and calls upon his com- 
panions to run from the spot, telling them that he has just discov- 
ered a snake in the grass. — Humi nasccntia fraga. This epithet, 
humi nascentia, observes Martyn, is very appropriate : it expresses 
the manner in which strawberries grow, for the plants which bear 
them trail upon the ground, and are, therefore, more likely to con- 
ceal serpents. — Frigidus. From the nature of the animal. Observe 
the peculiar and broken arrangement of the words, and the anapaes- 



142 NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 

tic rhythm, pueri, fugite June, as intended to denote the agitation of 
the speaker. 

Parcite, oves, nimium, &c. Menalcas replies by a similar warning 
in the case of sheep, that have approached too near an unsafe bank 
of a river, and are warned off by the shepherd, who points to a ram 
that has fallen in and is now drying his fleece. — Nimium. " Too 
far." — Non bene creclitur. " It is not safely trusted ;" more freely, 
•' it is not safe to trust." — Ipse aries. The ram himself, though the 
most prudent and cautious of the flock, has had a narrow escape. 

96-99. Tityre, pascentes, &c. These couplets continue the sub- 
ject of taking care of the flocks. — A flumine reice. "Drive back 
from the river by flinging thy crook." (Compare the explanation of 
Voss, " mit dem Stabezuruckzuwerfen.") Observe that reice is here 
contracted from rejice, that is, reiice. 

Cogite oves, pueri, &c. The shepherd boys are here directed to 
gather the sheep into the cool shade, lest the heat should dry up 
the milk. — Prcecepcrit. " Shall have dried up." Observe that prce- 
cipere is here the same as antccapere, that is, to take away before 
the animal can be milked. 

100-103. Heu! hen! qu am pingui, &c. Damcetas here laments 
that his herd is subject to the passion of love as well as himself. 
Menalcas answers that love is not the cause of the leanness of his 
own sheep, but some fascination.— Pingui in ervo. "Amid the 
fattening vetch." The ervum is the bitter vetch, and corresponds 
to the 5po6og of the Greeks. It was of two kinds, sativum and sil- 
vestre. Dioscorides divides the former into the white and the red, 
from the colour of the respective flowers. The leaf is narrow, 
slender, and the plant bears small seeds in pods. It was good for 
fattening cattle. (Columeli, ii., 11.) The common, but less correct 
reading is arvo. 

His. "Unto these of mine."— Nescio quis teneros. "Some evil 
eye or other bewitches for me the tender lambs," i. e., my tender 
lambs. The superstition of the evil eye is here referred to. Voss 
states that nescio quis is here for nescio qui. Not so, however. 
Nescio quis is the same nearly as aliquis, and qfiscio qui equivalent 
nearly to nescio qualis. 

104-105. Die, quibus in terris, &c. Damcetas, to put an end to 
the controversy, proposes a riddle to his antagonist, who, instead 
of solving it, proposes another. Numerous explanations have been 
given to the enigma here stated, some making the reference to be 
to a well ; others to a pit in the centre of Rome, in the Comitium, 
&c. The best solution, however, is the one mentioned, among 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE III. 143 

others, by Servius, who informs us, that Ascorrius Pedianus heard 
Virgil himself say, that he meant merely to allude to a certain Ccelius, 
a spendthrift of Mantua, who, having run through all that he pos- 
sessed, retained merely enough ground for a sepulchre, and that 
this very sepulchre, embracing about three ells in extent, is what 
Damcetas refers to in the text, the whole enigma turning upon the 
similarity in form and sound between cadi, " of heaven," and Cozli 
(i. c, Ccelii) " of Ccelius." (Voss and Wagner, ad loc.) Still, how- 
ever, all being uncertainty as to the poet's meaning, we must be 
content to translate cceli as the genitive of ccelum, i. e., " of heaven." 

Magnus Apollo. If he solve this enigma, he will be equal in divi- 
ning skill, in the shepherd's eyes, to Apollo himself, the great god 
of divination and prophecy. 

106-107. Inscripii nomina regum, &c. "Flowers are produced, 
inscribed with the names of kings ;" literally, "inscribed as to the 
names of kings." The allusion is to the hyacinth, which has, accord- 
ing to a poetic legend, the letters AI marked on its petals, not only 
as a note of sorrow for the death of Hyacinthus, but also as consti- 
tuting half the name of Ajax, i. e., Aiac, the Grecian leaders being 
styled " kings"' (Paoilelc) by Homer. (Consult note on Eclog., ii., 
18.) The hyacinth, as already remarked, is probably the Imperial 
Martagon. The flowers of most sorts of martagons, according to 
Martyn, have many spots of a deeper colour, " and sometimes," he 
adds, " I have seen these spots run together in such a manner as 
to form the letters AI in several places." It remains but to add 
that, according to the poets, the boy Hyacinthus, who was unfortu- 
nately killed by Apollo, was changed by that deity into a hyacinth, 
which, therefore, was marked, as already stated, with these notes 
of lamentation to express Apollo's grief. And it is also feigned 
that the same flower arose from the blood of Ajax when he slew 
himself. 

108-110. Non nostrum. "It is not for us." Supply est. Palaemon 
here declares that it is not in his power to decide which of the two 
has the better, and desires them, therefore, to make an end of the 
contest. 

Et vituld tu dignus, &c. Heyne marks this and the following line 
as spurious, although they are found in all the manuscripts. He 
raises various objections against them, none of which are of any 
great weight. The main difficulty, however, lies in the words 

" Et quisquis amores 
Aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros" 
as they are given and punctuated in almost all the editions. What 



144 N0TE3 ON ECLOGUE III. 

is meant by amoves dulces metuere 1 Wagner gives a long detail of 
various explanations by different editors, involving various changes 
of the common text, and then reads, as his own emendation, 

" Et quisquis amores 
Haul metuet, dulces, aut experietur amaros," 
and explains dulces, aut experietur amaros by aut dulces experietur 
out amaros. This, however, appears harsh. We have adopted what 
seems a much milder remedy, namely, transposing amores and ama- 
ros, and slightly altering the punctuation. The meaning will then 
be as follows : " And whoever shall either fear unsuccessful, or 
shall experience sweet (and successful) love." 

Claudile jam rivos, &c. " Now close the rills, ye swains, the 
meads have drunk enough." It is far more poetical to take these 
words in a figurative sense, and apply them to the contest which is 
just ended, and the meaning will then be as follows : " Now close 
the refreshing rills of song, my thirsting ear has by this time drunk 
in enough." Most commentators, however, understand the words 
in question literally, and suppose that Palaemon, having given his 
decision, now turns to his own servants, who had been employed, 
meanwhile, in irrigating his grounds, and directs them to close the 
rills, since the meadows are now sufficiently watered. 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 145 



ECLOGUE IV. 

Subject. 
<l This Eclogue, Which is the noblest of them all, and exhibits 
the highest species of allegorical pastoral, is usually entitled 
4 Pollio,' in consequence of being addressed to C. Asinius Pollio, 
the early patron of Virgil. It was written in the year of his con- 
sulship, which happened A.U.C. 714, and announces, as is well 
known, in a style of mysterious and prophetic grandeur, the birth 
of a child, under whose future rule the Golden Age was destined to 
be restored in Italy. Of all the prophecies uttered in the Roman 
Empire, tliose of the Cumsean Sibyl were the most celebrated ; and 
it seems probable that some prediction of that famous oracle served 
as the basis of the present piece. From the resemblance of its 
thoughts and images to those contained in the books of sacred 
poetry, it has been also conjectured that it partly owed its origin to 
a Greek version of those passages of Scripture in which the advent 
of the xMessiah is announced. (Loivtk, Be Sacr. Poes. Hcbr. Pro- 
tect., xxi., p. 223, ed. Oxon., 1821). But, in fact, all the descriptions 
of a perfectly happy age, whether past or to come, have been nearly 
the same in Palestine, Greece, and Italy. Harmless wild beasts, 
innocuous serpents, fruits of the earth without culture, and gods 
holding communion with men, have been selected in every land as 
the ingredients of consummate felicity. 

" At the period of the composition of this Eclogue, a treaty had 
just been concluded at Brundisium between Augustus and Antony ; 
and a peace made at such a time, and after such an uninterrupted 
series of crimes and misfortunes, was sufficient in itself to inspire 
the mind of a young poet with brilliant prospects, and the splendid 
imagery belonging to the Golden Age. The idea, however, that this 
anticipation of perfect happiness was to be realized under the au- 
spicious rule of some heaven-born infant was probably derived from 
the East by the Cumaean Sibyl, or, rather, those who uttered pre- 
tended prophecies in her name, and was dexterously applied by Vir- 
gil to the future condition of the Roman Empire, and the blessings 
it would enjoy under the sway of a child of the imperial family, who 
at that time had just been born, or was immediately expected to see 
the light. 

" It has, however, been a subject of much controversy what au- 
N 



146 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 

spicious babe was alluded to in this Genethliacon. Servius, in his 
commentary on Virgil, affirms that the Eclogue was written in hon- 
our of the birth of a son of Pollio, called Saloninus, who died in in- 
fancy ; from which ancient authority, the opinion that the Eclogue 
applied to a child of Pollio, became the most prevalent among com- 
mentators, though some of them, particularly Ruseus, the editor of 
the Delphin Virgil, have referred it not to Saloninus, but to Asinius 
Gallus, a son of Pollio, who lived to maturity. Notwithstanding, 
however, the authority of Servius, this theory is attended with in- 
superable difficulties. The poet speaks of the infant as the future 
ruler of the world, ' Pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem ,-' and 
the whole composition is in terms too lofty to be applicable to a son 
of Pollio ; for who at that time could deserve to be called a child 
of the gods, and the illustrious offspring of Jupiter, except one from 
the lineage of the Caesars 1 At all events, such magnificent prom- 
ises would not have been held out to a descendant of Pollio, who 
belonged to the party of Antony, and was on cold terms with Au- 
gustus. 

" Besides, is it to be supposed, that if a child of Pollio had been 
in the view of the poet, he would merely congratulate his patron on 
the accidental circumstance that the birth had happened during his 
consulship, and not have dedicated to him one line of compliment 
as the father 1 

" Others have erred still farther in applying this pastoral to Dru- 
sus, the son of Livia, who was not born till A.U.C. 716, two years 
subsequent to the composition of this Eclogue, which was written, 
as we have seen, in 714, during the consulship of Pollio. About 
this period, however, two important births took place in the Cesa- 
rean family. Scribonia, the wife of Augustus, whom he afterward 
divorced to make way for Livia, was, in the close of 714, shortly 
expected to give birth to a child, who subsequently became the no- 
torious Julia. The Eclogue, however, speaks of a boy ; and those 
who adopt the opinion that it applies to Julia, necessarily suppose 
that it was written in expectation of the birth, and not after the 
parturition. The expressions of the poet are somewhat equivocal, 
and may admit of either interpretation. His lines, ' Casta fave Ln- 
cina,' &c, and * Matri longa decern tv.leruntfaslid.ia menses,'' seem 
to have been written in the prospect of a birth ; but, on that sup- 
position, it appears singular that he should have hazarded such de- 
cided expressions with regard to the sex of the infant. 

<« The only other choice that remains is the birth of Marcellus, 



NOTES ON ECIJDGUE IV. 147 

the son of Octavia, and nephew of Augustus, who was also born in 
714. This application of the subject of the Eclogue, which was 
first hinted at by Ascensius, in his commentary on Virgil, is strongly 
insisted on by Catrou, and seems, on the whole, to be adopted by 
Heyne as the least objectionable tbeory. 'In the year 714,' says 
the former of these critics, 'when Asinius Pollio and Domitius Cal- 
vinus were consuls, the people of Rome compelled the triumvirs, 
Octavius and Antony, to conclude a durable peace. It was hoped 
that an end would be thereby put to the war with Sextus Pompey, 
wbo had made himself master of Sicily, and by the interruption of 
commerce had occasioned a famine at Rome. To render this peace 
more firm, Antony, whose wife Fulvia was then dead, married Cae- 
sar's sister Octavia, who had lately lost her husband Marcellus, and 
was thei. pregnant with a child, who, after his birth, received the 
name of his father Marcellus, and, as long as he lived, was the de- 
light of his uncle Octavius, and the hope of the Roman people. It 
is he that is the subject of the Eclogue. Virgil addresses it to 
Pollio, who was at that time consul, and thereby pays a compli- 
ment at the same time to Caesar, Antony, Octavia, and Pollio.' 

" This theory is perhaps more plausible than any of the others, 
but it is by no means free from objections ; for how should it have 
been supposed that Marcellus was to govern the universe, when 
Scribonia was pregnant, and when there was every prospect that 
Augustus would be succeeded in the empire by his own immediate 
issue 1 'The different claims,' says Gibbon, 'of an elder and 
younger son of Pollio, of Julia, of Drusus, of Marcellus, are found 
to be incompatible with chronology, history, and the good sense of 
Virgil.' (Decline and Fall, c. xx.) 

"A late writer, who was sensible of the difficulties of all the 
schemes of interpretation which had been devised for expounding 
this Eclogue, has assumed that it was not intended as a predic- 
tion, announced by Virgil himself in his own person, but as the re- 
cital of a prophecy supposed to have been anciently delivered by 
the Cumaean Sibyl, and applied by the poet to Augustus Caesar. 
The author attempts to show, by a review of the transactions of 
the time, compared with the matter of the Eclogue, that the pre- 
diction could only have Augustus for its object ; for to whom else, 
it is asked, could the poet have thought of ascribing, at such a pe- 
riod, those splendid honours, and all those circumstances of glory, 
marked out in this exulting Eclogue 1" (Illustrations of VirgiVs 
Fourth Eclogue.) 

•' This fourth Eclogue is written in so elevated a tone of poetry, 



148 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 

that some critics have rejected it from the number of Bucolic com- 
positions. All its images, however, are drawn from the country, 
or the superstitions of the age common to every part of the empire. 
In the melioration of the world which the poet foresees, everything 
refers to the condition of shepherds. He presents us with a rural 
scene, and a golden age, when the steer shall be unyoked, and the 
plough and pruning-hook laid aside, when honey shall drop from 
the sweating oak, and milk bedew the fields. It is this constant 
reference to rustic life, this restriction to rural imagery, and not 
the dignity or lowliness of sentiment and expression, which form 
the true criterion of pastoral composition." (Dunlop, Hist. Rom. 
Lit., vol. iii., p. 105, seqq.) 



1-4. Sicelides Muscb, &c. "Ye Sicilian Muses, let us sing of 
somewhat loftier themes !" i. e., of themes loftier than those which 
usually form the subject of Bucolic song. The Muses are here called 
" Sicilian," because presiding over pastoral poetry, in which The- 
ocritus the Sicilian excelled. Hence Bion speaks of the Ilksaov 
fielog (Idyll., vii., 1), and Moschus also calls the Muses ZaceXtKal 
Molaai. (Idyll., iii.) — Arbusta. "Vineyards." Spots of ground in 
which trees for training vines, especially elms, were planted at in- 
tervals of from 20 to 40 feet. — Myrica. "Tamarisks." The tam- 
arisk is in general low and shrubby, though it sometimes becomes 
a pretty tall tree. (Martyn, ad loc.) — Si canimus silvas. The poet 
wishes his pastoral poetry to be worthy of Pollio, and the perusal 
of a Roman consul. 

5-7. Ultima Cumai, &c. He now begins the subject of the Ec- 
logue, which is a Sibylline prophecy of new and happy days about 
to come, the return of Astraea to earth, and the renewal of the Gold- 
en Age. — Carminis. Observe that carmen is here equivalent in ef- 
fect to oraculum, since it denotes an oracle delivered in verse. The 
most celebrated of the ancient Sibyls, ten of whom flourished at 
different periods, was the Cumaean, so called from her residence at 
Cumae in Italy. These Sibyls were females, all supposed to be in- 
spired by Heaven, and who uttered, from time to time, obscure and 
mysterious predictions. One of these predictions, which had been 
given forth by the Cumaean prophetess, was generally supposed to be 
about this time approaching its accomplishment. A series of ages 
had, according to poetic legends, now nearly elapsed, namely, the 
Golden, the Silver, the Brazen, and the Iron Age ; and it had been 
predicted by the Sibyl that the great order of these ages was now 
to begin anew, the Golden Age returning first. Hence the lan?uap-e 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 149 

of the text, " the last era of Cumaean song has now arrived," i. e., 
we have now reached the end of the Iron Age, and have attained 
unto that point of time when the ancient order of ages is again to 
commence. 

Ab integro nascitur. " Is springing up anew." Observe that mag- 
nus in this verse is nothing more than memorabilis or insignis — 
Jam red.it et Virgo. The allusion is to Astraea (Alan), the daughter 
of Themis, and Goddess of Justice, who, during the Golden Age, had 
lived on earth among the human race, but had afterward fled to the 
skies, offended at the vices of men. She is now to return with the 
new Golden Age. — Saturnia regna. M The reign of Saturn." Sat- 
urn had reigned on earth during the first Golden Age. Hence by 
the reign of Saturn is meant, in fact, the age when Saturn reigned, 
not a return of the very reign itself, for the promised child is to be 
the new ruler. — Nova progenies. "A new progeny," i. e., a new 
race of men, better and juster than those who went before, and 
therefore worthier of enjoying the blessings of the coming age. 

8-10. Nascenti puerofave. " Favour the birth of the boy." Ob- 
serve that nascenti is here equivalent merely to dum nascitur, and 
that no reference is intended to the present moment. — Quo. "Un- 
der whom." Supply sub. — Ferrea (Etas. The poet's own age is 
meant. — Mundo. For orbe terrarum, as in Lucan, i., 160. — Lucina. 
The goddess presiding over child-birth. She is, strictly speaking, 
the same as Juno, but is often confounded with Diana, as in the 
present instance, by the Roman writers. — Tuus jam regnat Apollo. 
" Thy own Apollo now reigns," i. e., thy own brother Apollo. Ac- 
cording to the Sibyl, the Sun presided over the last age, and since, 
therefore, he now so presides, Lucina is entreated, for his sake, to 
favour the birth of the promised infant, who is to reign in his turn 
over the coming age. Apollo was unknown as a deity to the ear- 
lier Romans, and his name was wanting in the list of gods approved 
of by Numa. (Arnob., adv. Gentes, ii., p. 95, ed. 1651.) At a later 
age, however, the attributes of Apollo and the Sun were blended 
together. 

11-14. Teque adeo, &c. "And in thy consulship, too, in thy 
consulship, O Pollio, shall this glory of the age enter upon his ca- 
reer." As regards the force of adeo here, consult Hand, Tursell., i. t 
p. 145. — Inibit. Supply cursum suum. — Magni menses. " The far- 
famed months." Magni is here equivalent to illustres or insigncs. 
(Compare magnus ordo, in verse 5.) 

Te duce. "Under thy guidance," i. e., under thy consulship. 
The new age was to date from this. This sounds like very strong 
N2 



150 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 

language for the poet to apply unto Pollio ; but we must bear in 
mind that, at the time when this was written, the Romans by no 
means expected that all power would centre in the hands of Octa- 
vianus, but, on the contrary, still hoped that the ancient form of 
government would be restored, and with it their freedom. — Sceleris 
vestigia nostri. Alluding to the guilt of the civil wars, and the tra- 
ces still remaining of that lamentable conflict. Heyne thinks that 
this was written subsequently to the treaty of Brundisium, at which 
time Sextus Pompey was still infesting the Italian seas. 

Irrita. " Completely effaced." Equivalent to abolita. — Formi- 
dine. Alluding to the fear of Divine punishment, in consequence 
of the unholy nature of the contest. 

15-17. Me deum vitam, &c. " He shall receive (to enjoy) the 
life of the gods, and shall see heroes intermingled with gods, and 
shall himself be seen by them." This favoured child is to lead a 
life equal in felicity to that of the gods, and to lead it, too, in the 
midst of gods and heroes. The picture here presented is adum- 
brated from the poetic accounts of the Golden Age, when men, ac- 
cording to Hesiod, lived like gods (&cre &eol itfaov), and when present 
deities intermingled with the human race. — Heroas. Those were 
called heroes who were not only the offspring of parents, one of 
whom was divine, but who also, on account of their exploits, were 
enrolled among the gods after death. — Et ipse videbitur Mis. Equiv- 
alent, in effect, to iis admixtus erit. 

Pacatumque regct, &c. " And shall rule a world, hushed to re- 
pose, with all the virtues of his fathers," i. e., of his exalted line. 
Observe that patriis is here equivalent to majorum. A peaceful 
world forms one of the most usual features in poetic delineations 
of the Golden Age. 

18-20. At tibi prima, pier, &c. He now foretells the blessings 
which are to attend the birth of the infant. Observe that by prima 
munuscula, '• her first gifts," are meant plants and flowers only. 
The grain-harvest is to appear during the adolescence of the favour- 
ed new-comer. (Consult verse 28.)— Nullo cultu. Alluding to the 
spontaneous productions of the Golden Age. 

Cum baccare. " With the baccaris." The nominative form, bac- 
caris, is to be preferred to that of baccar, from the circumstance of 
baccaris being found in Pliny, and (3dKKapic in Theophrastus, or, as 
it is otherwise written, (3aKxapt.c. It is doubtful what particular 
plant is here meant. Martyn leaves the point undecided. Sprengel 
is in favour of the Celtic Nard, or Valeriana Ccltica, L. If we ad- 
mit, however, what is very probable, that the baccaris of the ancient 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 151 

botanists is the same with that of the Latin poet, we must decide 
for the Digitalis purpurea {Linn., gen., 101). The earlier commen- 
tators on Theophrastus and Dioscorides have confounded the aza- 
rum. with the baccaris, and have thus introduced, by a gross error, 
the- name baccara (one of the appellations of the azarunx) into the 
Italian language. (Fee, Flore de Virgile, p. xxiv.) 

Colocasia. "Colocasia." A species of Egyptian bean, but found 
also in the lakes of Asia, and particularly in Cilicia. According to 
Prosper Alpinus, the Egyptian name was Culcas. When this 
Eclogue was written the Colocasia was a rarity, newly brought 
from Egypt, and therefore the poet speaks of its growing commonly 
in Italy, as one of the glories of the happy age that was now begin- 
ning to dawn. According to Fee, it is the Arum Colocasia (Linn., 
gen., 1387). — Acantho. The acanthus here meant is the Acacia, an 
Egyptian tree, from which we obtain the gum Arabic. 

21-25. Ipsa. " Of their own accord." The sheep will require 
no keeper, as there will be no fear from the wolves. Compare the 
Greek usage of avrai, for avTOjiaroi, in Theocritus. — Ipsa cunabula. 
" Thy very cradle." — Blandos. " Pleasing ;" literally, " soothing," 
i. e., soothing to the senses by their perfume, and by their rich 
and varied hues. — Fallax herba veneni. " The deceitful herb of poi- 
son," i. e., the poisonous plant calculated to deceive, from its simi- 
larity to some innoxious one. As regards the expression herba ve- 
neni, for herba venenata, or venenum continens, compare poculum ve- 
neni in Solinus, poculum mortis in Cicero, poculum lactis in Tibullus. 

Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum. " The Assyrian amomum shall 
grow in common." As regards the amomum, consult note on 
Eclog., iii., 89. The epithet " Assyrian" is here to be taken in a 
wider sense than ordinary, for Eastern regions generally. ( Voss, 
ad loc.) 

26-30. At simul. "But as soon as."" Simul, for simul ac. The 
poet, having declared the blessings that shall attend the birth of 
this expected child, now proceeds to describe those which shall ac- 
company his youth. — Laudes. "The praises," i. e., the praise- 
worthy deeds. Compare the Homeric /cAea avdpuv ijpuuv. II., 
xxii., 520. — Parentis. (Consult Introductory Remarks.) — Et qua 
sit poteris, &c. In verse 26, the reference is to poetry and history, 
as each celebrating the exploits of illustrious men, and thus open- 
ing up the common fountain-head of all the virtues. The youth is 
now to become acquainted with, not the mere lessons of human 
wisdom as derived from the precepts of philosophy, but with that 
virtue which arises from emulating the virtue of another, that is, 



152 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 

he will learn to know what the virtue of former heroes and of his 
own sire may have been, and will make this his model of imi- 
tation. 

Molli paullatim, &c. (Compare note on verse 18.) — Flavescet. 
The allusion is still to spontaneous production, though not distinctly 
expressed. — Rubens uva. "The reddening grape," i. e., the ripen- 
ing cluster. — Et dura quercus, &c. Honey is said to have dropped 
from trees in the Golden Age. (Consult Georg., i., 131.)— *Roscida 
melia. The plural here marks abundance. Observe, moreover, the 
peculiar force of the epithet roscida, " dewy." The honey shall 
exude from the leaves and bark of the trees, and form globules like 
the dew. 

31-33. Pauca tamen suberunt, &e. " Still, however, a few traces 
of ancient guilt shall remain." This will be the Heroic Age ; the 
Golden one will not yet have returned. By fraus is meant the de- 
viation, on the part of subsequent ages, from the purity and sim- 
plicity of the times of Saturn, or the Golden Age. For the poet's 
day, however, this is ancient guilt, and comprehends the art of 
navigation, the fortifying of cities, the culture of the earth, &c, all 
of which are so many traces of guilt, because they have all come 
in the stead of that simple life, when man was contented with little, 
when all was peace around him, and when he was not as yet com- 
pelled to cultivate the earth by the sweat of his brow. 

Thetim. Thetis, the sea-goddess, and one of the daughters of 
Nereus, is here put for the sea itself. — Telluri infindere sulcus. 
"Wakefield reads tellurem infindere sulcis, and Voss tellurem infindere 
sulco. Both, however, appear to have arisen from mere interpreta- 
tions, and are not sanctioned by the MSS. 

34-36. Tiphjs. The pilot of Jason in the Argonautic expedition. 
He was cut off by sickness among the Mariandyni. — Altera Argo. 
With the return of past ages, the great events which characterize^ 
them will also return ; there will be a second Argonautic expedi- 
tion in quest of a second golden fleece ; there will be also a second 
war of Troy. 

37-39. Hinc, ubi jam, &c. " After this, when now thy strength- 
ened age shall have brought thee to manhood." The poet, having 
spoken of the defects that shall remain during the childhood and 
youth of the expected infant, now comes to speak of the fullness 
of blessings that shall attend the completion of the Golden Age, 
when he shall have attained to the full stature of manhood. — Cedet et 
ipse mari vector. " The mariner himself, also, shall withdraw from 
the sea." Servius makes vector equivalent here to both qui vchitur 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 153 

and qui vckit, that is, both the trader and the mariner. There is 
no need, however, of any such remark The reference here is 
merely to the commander of the vessel, who conveys merchandise 
over the sea either for himself or for others. — Omnis feret omnia 
tellus. Every country shall bear all sorts of products, which will 
make navigation useless. 

40-45. Non rastros patictur humus, &c. In this new age the earth 
is to produce everything spontaneously ; it will have no occasion 
to be torn by harrows, or the vine to be wounded by pruning-hooks. 
— Robustus. "The sturdy." — Nee varios discet, &c. "Nor shall 
the wool learn to counterfeit various colours." He calls the col- 
ours, which are given to wool by art, false or counterfeit ones. — 
Ipse sed in pratis, &c. " But the ram himself, in the meadows, shall 
change the hue of his fleece, now with the sweetly-blushing purple, 
now, again, with the saffron-coloured woold," i. e., the ram shall 
have his fleece tinged, without any process of art, sometimes .with 
purple, and at other times with a rich golden or yellow r hue. — Mu- 
rice. The murex is properly the shell-fish whence the ancient pur- 
ple was obtained. Here, however, it is taken for the colour itself. 
— Luto. By lutum is meant, according to Voss, the Reseda luteola, 
a plant yielding a saffron yellow. The French call it La Gaude, 
the English dyers about London term it woold. {Fee, Flore de Virgile, 
p. ci. — Martyn, ad loc.) 

Sandyx. " The vermilion." The poet does not refer here to a 
plant, as some suppose, but to a pigment formed of the mixture of 
sandaracha (red sulphuret of arsenic) with rubrica (reddle) in equal 
proportions. The meaning of the whole passage (v. 43-45) is sim- 
ply this : The sheep shall now feed on choicer herbage, and while 
feeding, they shall have their fleeces dyed by the hand of nature 
with the richest and most valuable hues. (Wagner, ad loc.) 

46-49. Talia scecla, suis, &c. " The Parcae agreeing in the firmly- 
established order of Fate, have said to their spindles, run on such 
ages as these," i. e. y proceed, ye ages, after this manner. The 
three fatal sisters, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, are intrusted 
with the conduct of the thread of human life, which they cut of 
when the fatal hour is come. They are here introduced as com- 
manding the thread belonging to this glorious age to run on without 
interruption. Observe that each Fate has here her spindle, where- 
as, according to the common legend, Clotho holds the distaff, La- 
chesis spins, and Atropos cuts the thread : " Clotho colum relinet, 
Lachesis net, Atropos occat." 

Aggredere magnos, &c. Virgil having now brought his hero on 



154 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 

to the full stature of manhood, calls upon him to assume his destined 
honours ; and then, breaking forth into a poetic rapture, he wishes 
that he himself may but live so long as to have an opportunity of 
celebrating his actions. — Deum soboles. Observe that deum is here 
used in the sense of dei alicujus. — Magnum Jovis incrementum. 
u Great increase of Jove," i. e., increasing in power through the 
favour of Jove. Compare the explanation of Wagner : " Qui per 
Jovem incrementa capil ; cui Jupiter favet, adspirat." 

50-52. Adspice convexo, &c. The world is here represented as 
nodding or beckoning, to welcome, as it were, the approach of this 
happy age ; just as, in the case of a present deity, the earth is said 
to be moved and to tremble, as it were, with joy. Martyn errone- 
ously makes nutantem mean tottering to its fall. Our explanation, 
however, which is that of Heyne, Voss, Spohn, Wagner, and Wun- 
derlich, is confirmed evidently by verse 52. 

53-59. mihi tarn longce, &c. This is the prayer of the poet, 
not, as some erroneously suppose, of the Sibyl. And as only the 
extreme portion of his existence can reach to these happy times, he 
therefore says, " longa. pars ultima vita." — Spiritus et, quantum, &c. 
44 And as much of (poetic) inspiration as shall suffice to tell of thy 
deeds." — Thracius Orpheus. The epithet " Thracian," applied here 
to Orpheus, is identical merely with " Pierian," and indicates a na- 
tive of the district of Pieria, which lay to the east of the Olympus 
range, to the north of Thessaly, and the south of ^Emathia or 
Macedonia. (Muller, Greek Lit., p. 27.) 

Linus. According to the common legend, an early bard, the son 
of Apollo and Terpsichore. (Consult, however, Anthoris Class. 
Diet., s. v.) — Adsit. " Be present," i. e., on being invoked to lend 
aid. — Orphei. The Greek dative, and of course a dissyllable. — 
Calliopea. Orpheus was the fabled son of Apollo and Calliope. 
Observe that Calliopea is from the Greek form Kak^Loneta, the more 
common form being Calliope, from KaATnoTrrj. 

Pan etiam, &c. This deity was chiefly adored in Arcadia, where 
he was fabled to have been begotten. — Arcadia judice. Even though 
the Arcadian shepherds be the umpires, and who would, of course, 
feel every inclination to favour their national deity. Observe the 
repetition in verse 59, and the spirited effect which it produces. 
( Waichert, de Vers, aliquot Virg., &c, p. 93, seqq.) 

60-63. Risu cognoscere matrem. " To know thy mother by thy 
smile," i. e., to show by thy smile that thou knowest thy mother, 
and to fill her bosom with joy by means of that smile, since it will 
prove an ample recompense for the long period of previous discom- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IV. 155 

fort. Heyne errs in referring risu to the mother's smile. If this 
interpretation be adopted, the lines that follow lose all spirit. Wo 
have followed, on the contrary, the explanation of Servius and the 
early grammarians, which is also ably advocated by Wagner. — 
Longa fastidid. "Long discomfort." 

Cui non riser c parentes. The idea of the poet is this : Begin by 
thy smile to elicit a smile from thy parents. This is all-important ; 
for he on whom his parents have not smiled at his natal hour is 
unworthy the banquet of the gods and the hand of a goddess. 



156 NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 



ECLOGUE V. 

Subject. 

"Two swains are introduced in this Eclogue, paying honour by 
their verses to the memory of the shepherd Daphnis. The one 
represents the cattle as abstaining from their food for grief, the wild 
beasts of Africa lamenting, the fields withering, Apollo and Pales 
leaving the plains, and the nymphs mourning round his corse. In 
the latter part of the pastoral, the scene is changed to joy and tri- 
umph. The second shepherd, who takes up the song, represents 
Daphnis as now received into Olympus ; pleasure and transport 
overflow the plains; the very mountains break forth into songs; 
altars are erected, and solemn sacrifices are performed to him, as 
to Ceres and Bacchus. 

" The whole pastoral thus consists of an elegy and an apotheosis : 
the first shepherd lamenting his decease, and the other proclaiming 
his divinity. But it is not agreed what person was meant to be 
figured under the name and character of Daphnis. Some have sup- 
posed that he was a fabulous Sicilian shepherd, the son of Mercury, 
who was believed to have been the inventor of pastoral poetry. 
Others have maintained that Daphnis denoted Quintilius of Cremo- 
na, the intimate friend of Horace and Virgil ; while Julius Scaliger 
thinks that the lamented shepherd represented Flaccus Maro, the 
brother of the poet. 

" The high and magnificent terms, however, in which Virgil sings 
of Daphnis, in that part of the Eclogue which celebrates his deifica- 
tion, preclude the idea that any private individual could be figured 
under the person of a shepherd, of whom he speaks as a god, tread- 
ing under foot the clouds and the stars. The greatness of the 
poet's conceptions, and the elevated tone he assumes, have led the 
greater number of commentators, and, among others, Joseph Scal- 
iger, to believe that he designed to bewail the death and celebrate 
the apotheosis of Julius Caesar. 

" These critics have explained the description of the mother of 
Daphnis embracing the dead body of her son as alluding to the tu- 
mults in the Forum and the lamentations over the dead body of 
Caesar, and the animals mourning and abstaining from food as re- 
ferring to those prodigies which were said to have occurred before 
his death. In the year of Rome 712, the triumvirs Antony, Octa- 
vianus, and Lepidus erected and consecrated a temple to Julius Cae- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 157 

sar in the Forum ; carried about his statue in solemn procession, 
along with an image of Venus, in the Circensian games; decreed 
supplications to him, on receiving the news of a victory, and or- 
dered that he should be worshipped as a god. 

"It was in allusion to this deification, as is now generally sup- 
posed, that Virgil composed his fifth Eclogue. This opinion, how- 
ever, though commonly adopted, is not without difficulties. Thus, 
Virgil calls Daphnis puer, a term by no means applicable to Julius 
Caesar, who was considerably above fifty at the time of his death. 
He also talks of his beauty, and of his mild, pacific disposition : all 
which, it must be admitted, seems more applicable to a youthful 
swain than to an old warrior. Menalcas, too, by whom the poet 
evidently means to represent himself, says, ' Amavit nos quoque 
Daphnis ;' but there is not the least reason to suppose that Virgil 
had been in any way favoured or protected by Julius Caesar. It is 
therefore probable that he may have had no farther intention in 
this Eclogue than to imitate the first idyl of Theocritus, in which 
two shepherds lament the fate of Daphnis, a Sicilian swain, who 
had pined away in striving to resist an unhappy passion. 

" However this may be, the Eclogue itself is one of the most ele- 
gant and pleasing of the number. The scenery of the spot where 
the shepherds sing is beautifully described, and is well adapted to 
the subject of the strain. There is also much delicacy and sweet- 
ness in the mutual praises bestowed by the swains on each other's 
verses." (Ditnlop, Hist. Rom. Lit., vol. hi., p. 110, seqq.) 

This Eclogue has stood to all succeeding ages as the model of 
pastoral elegies. It was composed, according to Voss, in A.U.C. 
713, when Virgil was in his 28th year. Heyne, following the Ro- 
man manuscript, gives as the title of this Eclogue, "Menalcas, Mop- 
sus.' Wagner, however, adopts the title of the Palatine manu- 
script, namely, " Daphnis ;" and we have followed his authority. 



1-7. Cur non, Mopse, &c. " Since we are met together, Mopsus, 
both of us skilled, thou in playing on the slender reeds, I in singing 
verses, why do we not sit down here?" &c. Observe the con- 
struction of boni with the infinitive, bs in Greek, ayadol ovpi&iv, 
&c. — Dicere. Equivalent to cantare. — Tu major. "Thou art the 
elder." Supply nalu. 

Sub incertas Zephyris, &.c. " Beneath the shade rendered un- 
certain by the zephyrs that continually disturb it," i. e., that con- 
tinually disturb the foliage, and thus render the shade uncertain and 
shifting. Observe the frequency of action implied in motantibus. 

O 



158 NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 

We have adopted this form with Wagner, Voss, and others, both 
because it is more expressive than Heyne's mutantibus, and also on 
account of its being sanctioned by Servius and the greater number 
of MSS. — Potius. Mopsus expresses himself with great modesty 
and deference to Menalcas. He assents to his proposal of sitting 
under the trees, but hints an objection to the uncertainty of the 
shade ; and expresses a desire of going rather into a cave, which 
he very beautifully describes. 

Adspice, ut antrum, &c. " See how the wild vine has overspread 
the cave with its scattered clusters." The allusion is properly to 
the entrance of the cave. — Labrusca. The labrusca, or wild vine of 
the ancients, probably did not differ specifically from that which 
was cultivated. As the want of pruning will spoil the bearing of a 
vine, and at the same time suffer it to run to wood, it must have 
been on the present occasion luxuriant in branches and leaves ; in 
other words, it was a real vine, running wild without any culture. 
This the poet expresses, by saying that the clusters were scattered, 
that is, few in number. The luxuriant vine, therefore, made a 
thick and certain shade about the entrance of the cave. 

8-9. Montibus in nostris, &c. Menalcas assents to the proposal 
of retiring to the cave, and the two shepherds discourse as they 
go along. Menalcas tells Mopsus, that in all their neighbourhood, 
none can contend with him but Amyntas ; and Mopsus is offended 
at the comparison. — Tibi certat. " Contends with thee." Observe 
the Hellenism in tibi for tecum. We have given certat, with Wag- 
ner, as more complimentary than certet, the reading of Heyne and 
others. Certat marks the assertion of a fact ; whereas certet here 
would be equivalent to " judicio meo certare potest." 

Quid, si idem certet, &c. " What if that same one strive to con- 
quer Phcebus in singing]" This is said with an air of pique, and 
is aimed at the arrogance of Amyntas. Mopsus means that Amyn- 
tas would contend with Apollo himself, the god of Song. 

10-15. Incipe, Mopse, prior, <kc. Menalcas, perceiving that he 
had offended Mopsus, by comparing him with Amyntas, drops the 
discourse, and desires him to sing first, proposing, at the same time, 
some subjects for his poetry. Mopsus, however, chooses rather to 
sing some verses which he had lately made, and tells Menalcas that, 
when he had heard them, he might judge whether there was any 
comparison between him and Amyntas. Menalcas endeavours to 
pacify his anger, and declares that, in his opinion, Amyntas is far 
inferior to him. 

Si quos aut Phyllidis ignes, &c. " If thou hast either any loves 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 159 

of Phyllis (to tell of in song)." The names here introduced, namely, 
Phyllis, Alcon, and Codrus, belong not to real characters, but to 
fictitious pastoral personages. Phyllis, therefore, must not be con- 
founded with the daughter of Lycurgus, king of Thrace, who was 
abandoned by Demophoon, nor Codrus with the early king of 
Athens. — Tityrus. The name of a slave. Mopsus himself is the 
son of a rich parent. 

In viridi cortice. On the bark, not taken off from the tree, as 
Voss thinks, but still remaining attached to it. — Et modulans alterna 
notavi. " And setting them to music, with my voice and pipe al- 
ternately, I noted down the melody." (Compare the explanation 
of Spohn : " Modulatus sum et modulamen notavi. Modulamen (lutein 
erat duplex, vocis, nam cantando rccitandum erat carmen, et fistula, 
que? quasi intercalate carmen, site modos musicos, canebat, quo finito 
dcnuo cantus pergebat. Itaque quasi hac alterna erant, canere voce et 
inflate fistulam") Observe that alterna is here by a Hellenism used 
adverbially for alternatim. 

16-19. Lenta salix, &c. The most remarkable property of the 
willow is its flexibility, whence the epithet lenta. On the other 
hand, the term pallens is no less proper for the olive, since its leaves 
are of a yellowish green colour. — Saliunca. " The saliunca." It 
is generally supposed that the plant here meant is the Nardus Cclti- 
ca, or French spikenard, a species of valerian. Dioscorides says it 
was called also by the Ligurian mountaineers, among whom it 
grew, by the name of 'AXiovyyia, which approximates closely in 
sound to Saliunca. It is now found in great plenty on the mount- 
ains that divide Italy from Germany, and also on the mountains 
about Genoa, near Savona. It is a very low plant, and has a fra- 
grant smell : hence, as the poet had opposed the willow to the ol- 
ive, which it somewhat resembles, though it is far inferior to it, 
so he now opposes the saliunca, or French spikenard, a low plant, 
of sweet smell, to the rose, a flower not only excelling it in odour, 
but also in beauty. It is said that the inhabitants of the Tyrol call 
the Nardus Ccltica, in their own language, selinuck. (Martyn, ad 
loc.) — Desine plura. Supply dicer e. 

20-23. Daphnin. (Consult Introductory Remarks.) — Crudelifu- 
nere. "By a cruel death," i. e., by a harsh and untimely fate. 
Equivalent merely to acerbd morte. He pined away through a hope- 
less passion. — Vocat crudelia. Heyne makes vocat equivalent here 
to invocat. Not so, however. The very explanation which Heyne 
condemns is the true one. The mother of Daphnis, namely, char- 
ges the gods and the stars with cruelty in not having saved her 
son.— Mater. (Consult Introductory Remarks. 



160 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 



24-26. N071 ulli pastos, &c. The shepherds, through grief, 
drove not, during those days, their herds to the pastures, and, after 
they had pastured, to the river's stream. — Nulla nee amncm, &c. 
Those who are of opinion that Julius Caesar is meant under the 
name of Daphnis quote a foolish story from Suetonius, who states 
that the horses which Caesar had consecrated, when he crossed the 
Rubicon, and which had fed at large ever since, were observed on 
his death to abstain from their food. (Vit. Cas., c. 81.) 

27-28. Pxnos. " Carthaginian," i. e., African. This, however, 
is merely an ornamental epithet, and has no particular reference 
to country. So, immediately after, we have Armenias tigres. — Lo- 
quuntur. In the sense of narrant. (Compare Bion, Idyll, i., 32, 
"Q.pea Tciivra "kiyovri, tcai ai dpvec.) 

29-31. Curru. Old form of the dative, for currui. — Thiasos indu- 
cere Bacchi. " The introduction of the sacred processions of Bac- 
chus." By thiasos are here meant sacred processions, accompa- 
nied with dancing and song. The word is derived, according to 
some, from aioc, the JBolic for -&eoc. Heyne makes induccre equiv- 
alent here to the simple ducerc, "to lead up." Wagner, however, 
explains it more correctly as follows : " Inducere dicitur de Us, qui 
novum morcm introducunt, primi aliquid faciunt.'"' — Bacchi. This is 
the true reading, not Baccho, as Brunck would prefer. The dative 
would imply, what the poet does not mean, namely, that the tkmms 
had not previously existed. Daphnis merely introduces them into 
quarters where they had not previously been adopted ; but they had 
been invented elsewhere long before. 

Et folds lentas, &c. A description of the Thyrsus. This was a 
pole carried by the worshippers of Bacchus in the celebration of 




NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 



1G1 



his orgies. It was twisted round with branches of vine and ivy, 
and was sometimes terminated by the apple of the pine or fir-cone, 
that tree being dedicated to Bacchus, in consequence of the use of 
the turpentine which flowed from it, and also of its cones, in the 
making of wine. The monuments of ancient art, however, most 
commonly exhibit, instead of the pine-apple, a bunch of vine or ivy 
leaves, with grapes or berries arranged in the form of a cone. The 
preceding wood-cut shows the head of a thyrsus, composed of the 
leaves and berries of the ivy, and surrounded by acanthus leaves. 

In the following cut, a fillet is tied to the pole just below the 
head, and the pole itself is bare. This fillet was often used, and 
was of a white colour. 




33-35. Vitis ut arboribus, &c. By the vine being an ornament 
to the trees is meant its adorning the elms by which it was sup- 
ported. — Tu decus omne tuts. " So wast thou the whole glory of 
thy friends." Supply eras. — Pales. The goddess who presided 
over cattle and pastures among the ancient Romans. — Apollo. Apol- 
lo Nomius (NdjUioj- ) is here meant. He was originally a local deity 
of the shepherds of Arcadia, and was transformed into, and identi- 
fied with, the Dorian Apollo during the process in which the latter 
became the national divinity of the Peloponnesians. Nd/uof means, 
11 of or belonging to a pasture, or shepherds." 
02 



162 NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 

36-37. Grandia scope quibus, &c. "Often ia those furrows in 
which we have sown plump barley, the unhappy darnel and steril 
oats are produced ;" more freely, " wild oats." The ordinary text 
has dominantur instead of nascuntur ; but the latter is the true 
reading, and is sanctioned by the earlier editions and MSS. The 
same line occurs again in the Georgics (i., 154), but there domi- 
nantur is to be preferred, on account of the more elevated character 
of the poetry. 

Lolium. The darnel is a common weed in corn-fields. It is re- 
markable, however, as being the only w r ell-authenticated instance 
of a plant belonging to the order of grasses in which nareotic or 
even deleterious properties have been found. The grains are said 
to produce intoxication in man, beasts, and birds, and to bring on 
fatal convulsions. According to Christison, darnel, when mixed 
with flour, and made into bread, has been known to produce head- 
ache, giddiness, somnolency, delirium, convulsions, paralysis, and 
even death. Hence, perhaps, the epithet of "infelix" applied to 
it by Virgil, unless this be given to it from its unproductive nature. 
The botanical name is Lolium temulentum, and the French name 
L'ivraie, both having reference to its intoxicating properties. 

Steriles avencz. The wild oats are not the common oats degen- 
erated by growing wild, but a quite different species : the chaff of 
them is hairy, and the seed is small like that of grass. It was the 
general opinion of the ancients that wheat and barley degenerated 
into darnel and wild oats, but they are both specifically different, 
and rise from their own seeds. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

38-39. Purpureo narcisso. Alluding, according to Martyn, to a 
species of white daffodil with a purple cup. This kind is said to 
bloom about the time of the autumnal equinox. {Martyn and Voss, 
ad loc.) — Paliurus. - The paliurus." Christ's thorn ; supposed to 
be the thorn of which the crown was made that was put upon our 
Saviour's head. It grows abundantly in Italy in uncultivated places, 
and is very common in the hedges, for the strength of its thorns 
makes a very good fence. The botanical name is Rhamnus folio 
subrotundo, fructu compresso. (Bauhin.) 

40-44. Spargite humum foliis. Flowers and leaves are to be 
scattered on the ground in honour of Daphnis, in accordance with 
a well-known custom. — Inducite fontibus umbras. "Form a shade 
over the fountains." Trees are to be planted around his grave, 
throwing their shade upon the stream that winds near it. Observe 
that the tomb is to be erected near some piece of running water, 
to keep the turf upon it ever fresh and verdant. Compare the de- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 163 

scription of the tomb to be constructed for the Culex : " Rivum 
propter aqua, viridi sub fronde latcntcm." (Cm/., 387.) — Tumulum. 
The tomb is to be a mound of earth. — Carmen. "An inscription." 

Daphnis ego in silvis, &c. " I am Daphnis, known throughout the 
woods ; known hence (also) even unto the stars," i. e., not only 
known throughout the woods, but whose fame has also spread 
thence even to the skies. Compare the explanation of Servius : 
" in silvis notus et hinc usque ad sidera." — Ipse. " Myself." 

46-52. Sopor. " Deep sleep." Dcederlein, with very little pro- 
priety, undertakes to show that sopor is merely the poetical expres- 
sion for sleep, somnus the usual one. (Lat. Syn., vol. v., p. 278.) — 
Per astum. "Amid the summer heat." — Saliente rivo. "With 
some leaping rill," i. e., some living and gushing stream. — Calamis. 
" On the reeds," i. e., with the syrinx. (Compare note on Eclog. 
ii , v. 32.) — Magistrum. The allusion is not to Daphnis, but merely 
to some shepherd who had taught Mopsus the musical art. (Jahn, 
ad loc.) 

Alter ab Mo. " Second after him," i. e., next to him in point of 
skill. — Nos tamen, &c. Mopsus here modestly offers to sing some 
verses which he himself had composed on the subject. — Hac quo- 
cumque modo nostra. " These strains of mine, such as they are ;" 
literally, " in whatever way (we can)." — Tollemus ad astra. To 
be taken merely as a general expression for celebrabimus, and not at 
all referring to any honours of deification. 

53-55. Tali munere. "Than such a favour." — Puer. Daphnis. 
— Ista carmina. "Those verses of thine." Observe the force of 
ista. — Stimicon. The fictitious name of some shepherd. 

56-61. Candidus insuelum, &c. "Daphnis, arrayed in robes of 
refulgent light, gazes with admiration on the threshold of Olympus, 
all new to his eyes," i. e., on the entrance to the courts of heaven. 
Olympus is here taken for the arx cceli, where the gods were be- 
lieved to dwell. — Ergo alacris voluptas. " A lively pleasure, there- 
fore," t. e., eager joy at beholding his apotheosis. — Dryadasque 
puellas. (Consult note on Eclog. ii., 64.) — Bonus. In the sense of 
benignus. — Otia. " Repose," i. e., a state of peace. 

63-64. Intonsi montes. " The woody mountains ;" literally, " un- 
shorn," and equivalent to inccedui. — Carmina sonant. " Send forth 
loud strains." To the excited imagination of Menalcas the very 
rocks and vine-grounds seem to break forth into songs of joy. — 
Dais, deus Me, &c. "He is a god, that (Daphnis of ours) is a god, 
O Menalcas!" The cry of the rocks, &c. 

65-66. Bonus felixque. " Kind and propitious." — En quatuor aras. 



164 NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 

Four altars are erected, two for Daphnis, and two for Phoebus ; that 
is, two for him who excelled all other mortals in song, and two for 
the god of song himself. Observe that Daphnis and Phoebus are 
not here ov^u/iot, i. e., worshipped on a common altar, but have 
each altars of their own. The plurality of altars is intended for 
more extensive sacrifices than ordinary. — Ecce duastibi, Daphni, &c. 
" Lo ! two (altars) for thee, O Daphnis, two, arger ones,for Phoebus." 
Observe that altaria is here in apposition with aras understood. 
This passage shows plainly that the distinctive difference between 
ara and allare is here meant to be observed. Ara is an altar of 
smaller size, on which incense, fruits of the earth, and similar obla- 
tions are offered up ; altarc is an altar of larger size, on which vic- 
tims are burned. This serves to explain, also, what immediately 
follows. To Daphnis, as to a deified hero, no bloody offerings are 
to be made ; the oblations are to consist merely of milk, oil, and 
wine. 

67-71. Bina. Observe the distinction between Una in this line 
and duos in the one immediately following. Two cups of milk are 
to be placed on each altar, but only one bowl of wine, the bowls 
being more capacious than the cups. — El, multo in primis, &c. 
" And especially enlivening the feast with abundant juice of Bac- 
chus ;" literally, "with much Bacchus." This is the customary 
feast after a sacrifice. — Vina novum fundam, &c. " I will pour forth 
from cups the Ariusian wine, a new kind of nectar," i. c, I will 
pour forth libations of the luscious Ariusian wine. The guests at 
banquets of this kind were accustomed, during the second course, 
to pour forth libations of the more generous kinds of wine. The 
use of foreign wines for such a purpose became very frequent with 
the Romans after A.U.C. 700. (Voss, ad he.) 

Ariusia. The Ariusian wine was the produce of the craggy 
heights of Ariusium, in the island of Chios, extending three hun- 
dred stadia along the coast. It is extolled by Strabo as the best of 
all Greek wines (xiv., 1). From Athenaeus we learn that the prod- 
uce of the Ariusian vineyards was usually divided into three dis- 
tinct species : a dry wine, a sweetish wine, and a third sort of a 
peculiar quality, thence termed avTonparov (i., 25). All of these 
seem to have been excellent of their kind, and are frequently al- 
luded to in terms of the highest commendation. — Calalhis. The 
calathus was a cup shaped like a basket, which latter is the primi- 
tive meaning of the term. Such a basket may be seen in the fol- 
lowing cut. 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 



105 




72-75. Lyctius. " The Lyctian," i. c, the Cretan. Lyctus was 
one of the most considerable cities of Crete, to the northeast of 
Praesus. — Saltantes Satyros. This, of course, would be in good keep- 
ing with a festival in honour of a rustic deity. The Satyrs were a 
sort of demigods that attended upon Bacchus, and are described 
as having been half men, half goats. — Hac tibi semper crunt. " These 
(honours) shall be always thine." — Rcddcmus. " We shall pay." — 
Lustrabimus agros. " We shall be making a lustration of the fields." 
The allusion is to the Ambarvalia. (Consult note on Georg. i., 343.) 
The sacrifices to Daphnis, then, were to be perpetuated from year 
to year ; that is, his apotheosis was to be commemorated at the 
festival of the nymphs, and also at that of the Ambarvalia, both of 
which took place yearly. 

77-80. Thymo. The thyme of the ancients was not our common 
thyme, but the Thymus capitatus, qui Dioscoridis, of Bauhin. It now 
grows in great plenty on the mountains of Greece. The Attic honey 
was considered the best, because of the excellence of the Attic 
thyme, especially that growing on Mount Hymettus. The ancient 
thyme was more fragrant and agreeable to the taste than our own. 
— Dum tore cicada. The cicada's feeding on dew is mentioned not 
only by the ancient poets, as, for example, Hesiod (Scut., Here, 395), 
and Theocritus (Id., iv., 16), but also by Aristotle, Pliny, &c. Thus 
the latter states : " Habent in pectorc fistuloso quiddam aculcatum ; 
to rorem lambunt," &c. (H. N., ii., 26.) As regards the cicada itself, 
consult note on Eclog. ii., 13. 

Damnabis tu quoque votis. " Thou too shalt bind (thy suppliants) 
by vows," i. c, shalt bind them to perform their vows, by granting 
their prayers. Daphnis will be a deity, and they who ofTer up their 
petition to him will be bound to the performance of those things 
which they promised to perform in case their prayers were granted. 
This, after all, is equivalent merely to saying that Daphnis will be 



166 NOTES ON ECLOGUE V. 

addressed in prayers, and will hear the prayers so addressed to 
him. 

82-90. Venientis sibilus austri. " The whisper of the rising South." 
— Pcrcussa. "Gently struck." — Ante. "First," i. c, before thou 
make a present unto me. — Cicuta. In the general sense of arun- 
tiine or calamo. Servius seems to say that cicuta means, properly, 
the space between two knots in a reed. (Ad Eclog., ii., 35.) — For- 
mosum Corydon, &c. The commencement of Eclogue ii. — Cujum 
pecus, &c. The commencement of Eclogue iii. Some think, from 
this and the previous quotation, that Virgil means himself under 
the name of Menalcas. 

At tu sumc pedum, &c. Mopsus at last insists upon his friend's 
acceptance of a shepherd's crook, the value of which he sets forth 
by telling him that another had earnestly desired it in vain, and also 
by describing the beauty of the crook itself.— Quum. " Although." 
— No?i tulit. " Bore not away as his own." — Formosum paribus 
nodis, &c. " Beautiful for its even knots and brass," i. e., for its 
even joints and the brass that adorns it. 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 167 



ECLOGUE VI. 
Subject. 

This Eclogue is addressed by Virgil to Varus, who studied along 
with him at Naples, under Syro, the Epicurean philosopher. Two 
young Satyrs are introduced, who seize Silenus, while asleep in a 
cave, and compel him to entertain them with a song, which he had 
frequently promised them. The god immediately begins to give 
an account of the formation of the world, according to the system 
of Epicurus. He then passes on to Deucalion's deluge and the 
reign of Saturn, and recounts some of the most celebrated fables 
and transformations of the primeval world. (Dunlop's Rom. Lit., 
vol. hi., p. 118.) 

This Eclogue, according to Voss, was composed in the summer 
of A.U.C. 715, the poet being then in his 30th year. 



1-2. Prima Syracusio, &c. " My Muse was the first that deigned 
to sport in Syracusan strain." The poet here claims the merit of 
having been the first of his countrymen to introduce the pastoral 
poetry of the Greeks into Roman literature. As his model was 
Theocritus, the Sicilian poet, and a native of Syracuse, he calls this 
department of poetry the Syracusan, that is, Sicilian strain. — Dig- 
nata est. The Roman muse, that is, the Roman poets before Virgil, 
had treated of loftier themes. To treat of pastoral subjects, there- 
fore, was an act of condescension on the part of the Goddess of 
Song. Observe that in the explanation here given we have adopted 
the opinion of Voss, Spohn, and Wagner as to the force of prima. 
Heyne, with less propriety, understands it as referring merely to 
the first production of Virgil's own Muse. 

Thalia. This Muse is here named, with great propriety, as the 
patroness of bucolic song, since to her was ascribed the invention 
of husbandry, &e. Compare the scholiast on Apollonius, Arg., iii., 
1 : QuAeia tie (Xeyerat evprjKevai) yeupyiav, kui ttjv nept ra 6vtu Tzpay- 
fiareiav. 

3-5. Quum canerem, &c. The exordium to this Eclogue appears 
to have been written by the poet for the purpose of excusing unto 
Varus what he was pleased to deem his own humble powers of 
song. 'Varus, it would seem, had thought pastoral poetry too low- 
ly a theme for Virgil's muse, and had urged him to turn his atten- 
tion to epic subjects. The poet, however, judging his powers un- 



168 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 

equal to such a task, thinks he ought to pursue those humbler topics 
for which nature appears to have intended him. 

Cynthius aurem vellit. " Apollo twitched my ear." Apollo was 
called Cynthius, from Mount Cynthus in the island of Delos, on 
which mountain he was born. From the same cause Diana was 
called Cynthia. — Aurem vellit. In order to ensure attention to what 
was said. Observe that vellit is here in the perfect. — Deductum 
carmen. " An unpretending strain." Deductum here means, liter- 
ally, " thin-spun," and is a metaphor taken from wool that is spun 
out thin. 

6-12. Super tibi erunt. " Thou wilt have (poets) more than 
enough." — Vare. L. Alfenus Varus, a follower of Caesar's, and 
who had studied the Epicurean philosophy at Naples, along with 
Virgil, under the philosopher Syro. — Tristia condere bella. " To 
build up the narrative of gloomy wars." Varus had taken an ac- 
tive part in the civil wars, having sided, as has been remarked, with 
Caesar. — Agrestem tenui, &c. (Compare Eclog., i., 2.) 

Non injussa cano. M I sing no unbidden strains," i. e., I sing what 
Apollo orders me to sing, and this alone. Apollo had directed him 
(v. 5) to confine his attention to pastoral and humble themes. — Hcec 
quoque. " Even these (my strains)," i. e., even these unpretending 
strains of mine. — Captus amore. " Taken with love of mine," i. e., 
pleased with them. — Sibi qua. prcescripsit. " Which has inscribed 
upon its front." Observe that pagina, in this sentence, is equiva- 
lent, in fact, to carmen. 

13-15. Pergi'.e, Pierides. " Proceed, ye maidens of Pieria." As 
regards this appellation of the Muses, consult note on Eclog. hi., 85. 
The poet now proceeds to the subject of his Eclogue. — Chromis et 
Mnasylus. Two young satyrs, not shepherds. That they were not 
mere mortals, appears from their intimacy with Silenus (r. 18) as 
well as with JEgle. No human beings could have come even into 
the sight of nymphs and woodland divinities without straightway 
losing their reason, and becoming what was termed vvjx^67.riirroi, 
or lymphati. (Voss, adloc.) 

Silenum. Silenus was a demigod, who became the nurse, pre- 
ceptor, and attendant of Bacchus. He was noted for his wisdom, 
but equally noted for intemperance. This deity was usually repre- 
sented as old, bald, and flat-nosed, riding on a broad-backed ass, 
in a state of intoxication, sometimes supported by satyrs, carrying 
his can in his hand, or else tottering along leaning on his staff of 
fennel. — Inflatum. " Swollen," i. e., flushed and tumid, the effect of 
copious drinking. Iaccho. Iacchus, another name for Bacchus, is 
here used, by metonymy, for " wine." 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 



169 



16-17. Serta. Hard drinkers were accustomed to wear garlands 
around their brows.— Tantum capiti delapsa. " Having fallen to 
such a distance from his head." It is very hard to say what is 
here the true meaning of tantum. If we join it with procul, it makes 
a most harsh construction ; if we render it " only," it clashes with 
procul unless this stand for juxta, which is too forced ; if, with Voss, 
we make it equivalent to modo T "just," it appears frigid and tame. 
We have ventured, therefore, to regard it as standing for in tantum. 

Et gravis attrita, &c. "And his heavy flagon hung by its well- 
worn handle," t. e., hung from his hand. He still grasped the flag- 
on, though in a state of unconscious intoxication. The cantharus 
was a kind of drinking-cup furnished with handles. It is said by 
some writers to have derived its name from one Cantharus, who 
first made cups of this form. The cantharus was the cup sacred 
to Bacchus, who is frequently represented on ancient vases holding 
it in his hand, as in the following wood-cut. 




18-22. Ambo. The rarer form for ambos. (Rudd.,Instit., vol. i., 
p. 57, ed. Stallb.).—Ipsis ex sertis. " Made of his very garlands." — 
Timidisque supervenit. "And comes suddenly upon the startled 
youngsters." We have given supervenit here the meaning assigned 



170 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 

to it by Forcellini and Scheller. Voss and others make it signify 
" encourages," but with far less propriety. — Jamque videnti. "And 
to him now opening his eyes," i. e., aroused from his slumbers. — 
Sanguineis moris, &c. Servius thinks that this alluded to the red 
colour being sacred to the gods. Not so, however. The poet is 
merely describing a girlish joke. 

Satis est potuisse videri. " It is enough that you appear to have 
been able," i. e., able to bind me. Compare the explanation of 
Heyne, " videri me vincire potuisse." 

25-30. Cognoscite. " Hearken unto." — Carminavobis,&,c. "You 
shall have strains ; this one another kind of reward." Vobis refers 
to the young satyrs ; huic, to ^Egle ; and mercedis is sportively used 
in allusion to the trick played upon him. 

Turn vero, &c. All nature is delighted with the wondrous strain. 
Not only do the Fauns dance and the wild beasts move sportively 
in joyous measure, but the very forest-trees wave their leafy tops 
in token of admiration. — Faunos. The Fauns were rural divinities, 
having partly a human body, partly that of a goat. — In numerum lu- 
dere. "Moving sportively to the measure," i. e. y in cadence with 
his song. 

Parnasia rupes. "The Parnasian rock," i. e., the rocky mount- 
ain of Parnassus. Mount Parnassus, in Phocis, was sacred to 
Apollo and the Muses. On it stood Delphi, famed for its oracle 
of the former. — Nee tantum Rhodope, &c. " Nor do Rhodope and 
Ismarus so much admire Orpheus," i. e., as the Fauns, &c, ad- 
mired the strain of Silenus. — Rhodope. A mountain range of 
Thrace, forming, in a great degree, its western boundary. Here 
Orpheus mourned in plaintive strains the loss of his Eurydice. — 
Ismarus. A mountain of Thrace near the mouth of the Hebrus. 

31-34. Namque canebat, &c. Silenus begins his song with de- 
scribing the creation of the world according to the views of the 
Epicurean school of philosophy. Epicurus taught that the universe 
consists of two parts, matter and space, or vacuum, in which matter 
exists and moves ; and all matter, of every kind and form, is reducible 
to certain indivisible particles or atoms, which are eternal. These 
atoms, moving, according to a natural tendency, straight downward, 
and also obliquely, have thereby come to form the different bodies 
which are found in the world, and which differ in kind and shape, 
according as the atoms are differently placed in respect to one an- 
other. 

Uti magnum per inane, &c. " How the seeds of earth, and air, 
and water, and, at the same time, of the pure ethereal fire, had 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 171 

(originally) been gathered together throughout the immense void." 
By magnum inane is here meant the immensity of space, as exist- 
ing before the creation of the universe. In this are congregated, 
in wild confusion, the primordial atoms whence all things are to 
proceed. A long lapse of ages ensues, during which these atoms, 
or seeds of future being, float to and fro, some attracting, others 
repelling, until gradually the four elements arise from these their 
seeds, and the frame-work of the universe begins to be developed. 

Liquidi ignis. Observe that liquidus is here a Lucretian epithet, 
equivalent to purus, i. e., athereus, the reference being to the fiery 
essence, in its pure and unadulterated state, and free from any ad- 
mixture of grosser particles, like pure and limpid water. (Compare 
Lucret., vi., 204.) 

Ut his exordia primis, &c. " How, from these primal atoms, all be- 
ginnings, and the tender frame- work itself of the universe grew to- 
gether," i. e., gradually arose. — Exordia omnia. Compare the ex- 
planation of Wagner : " Omnia exordia sunt singula? res ex atomo- 
rum concursu natae." — Tener. Because just created. 

35-40. Turn durare solum, &c. " Then, how the earth began to 
consolidate, and to shut up Nereus by himself in the deep," i. e., to 
shut up the ocean- waters, &c. Supply ut before cceperit. — Nereus, 
the sea-deity, the eldest son of Pontus and Terra, is here taken, by 
metonymy, for the waters of the sea themselves. The meaning of 
the poet is this, that the earth, by growing compact and solid, 
forced the superincumbent water to retire from it, and to form the 
seas. — Discludere. " To shut up apart." — Ponto. Observe that 
pontus is here used for the cavity of the sea, the great abyss. 

Jamque novum, &c. " And then, how the earth is lost in aston- 
ishment at the shining of the new sun ;" more literally, " that the 
new sun begins to shine." — Sulmotis. " Lifted up on high." The 
clouds, before the separation of the elements, brooded over the 
earth. — Incipiant. We would expect inceperint here, just as we 
would stupuerint and ceciderint in what immediately precedes ; but 
the present is more graphic. — Per ignaros monies. " Over the 
mountains that had not seen them before." We have adopted igna- 
ros with Wagner, in place of the common reading ignotos. Observe 
that ignari montes is equivalent to " montes, qui antea animalia non 
viderant." 

41-42. Hinc lapides Pyrrha jactos. " Then he tells of the stones 
thrown by Pyrrha." Observe that Pyrrha is the dative here, by a 
Hellenism, for a Pyrrha. After the deluge qf Deucalion, this indi- 
vidual and his wife Pyrrha, who were the only two human beings 



172 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 

that were saved, were ordered by an oracle to cast stones be- 
hind them. The stones cast, accordingly, by Deucalion became 
men ; those thrown by Pyrrha became women. Silenus, having 
sung of the first formation of the world, proceeds to mention the 
renovation of it by Pyrrha, and its amelioration by Saturn and Pro- 
metheus. He then goes on to show the evil consequences that 
attend the perturbations of the mind, or, in other words, the indul- 
gence of the passions. The fables, therefore, that are thus intro- 
duced by him are not brought in at random, but serve to set forth 
the moral doctrine of Epicurus, namely, that we ought to avoid all 
perturbations of the mind. 

Saturnia regna. " The reign of Saturn," i e., in Latium, during 
the Golden Age. Observe the force of the plural in marking a hap- 
py era. — Caucasiasque volucres. Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, 
having formed a man out of clay, animated him with fire which he 
had stolen from the skies by applying a stalk of ferula to the char- 
rot-wheel of the sun. According to another legend, he made man- 
kind acquainted with the uses of fire, having stolen it for this pur- 
pose, in like manner, from the heavens. Jove, offended at the deed, 
ordered him to be chained to Mount Caucasus, where an eagle or 
vulture preyed continually on his liver. 

43-44. Hylan nautce quo fonte, &c. " At what fountain left be- 
hind the mariners called for Hylas, so that the whole shore re- 
sounded Hylas ! Hylas!" According to the common account, Hy- 
las was a youth who accompanied Hercules in the Argonautic ex- 
pedition. He was lost in a fountain, whither he went to draw wa- 
ter, and hence was fabled to have been carried away by a Naiad. 
The Argonauts called a long time for him in vain, and hence, it is 
said, arose the annual custom of calling aloud for Hylas. The scene 
of this fable was the coast of Bithynia. Muller's explanation of 
the legend is evidently the true one. Hylas is merely a type of the 
tender beauty of spring destroyed by the summer heat. (Midler, 
Hist. Gr. Lit., p. 19.) 

Clamdssent. Observe the peculiar force of the subjunctive here, 
" had called" for Hylas, as is said, i. e., as early legends tell. 

46-51. Pasiphaen. Pasiphae was the daughter of the sun, and 
wife of Minos, king of Crete. — Virgo infelix. " Unhappy female." 
The term virgo is here used in a general sense for femina or mulier, 
as applied to a married female, and the mother of three children. — 
Proetidcs. " The daughters of Prcetus." These were three in num- 
ber, and their father was King of Argolis. They were seized with 
insanity for contemning the rites of Bacchus. Another legend 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 173 

makes them to have been thus punished for casting ridicule on 
Juno and her temple. While under the influence of this phrensy, 
the Proetides roamed over the plains, the woods, the wastes of Ar- 
golis and Arcadia, fancying themselves changed into cows. They 
were finally cured by Melampus. — Falsis mugitibus. Because not 
coming from real animals. 

Vila. " Any one of their number," i. e., of the Proetides. — 
Quamvis collo, &c. "Although she had feared the plough for her 
neck," i. e., was afraid of being yoked to the plough, while fancy- 
ing herself a heifer. 

54-56. Ilice sub nigra, &c. " Ruminates the pale herbs beneath 
a dark-leaved holm oak." The rumen, or paunch, is the first- of the 
four stomachs of those animals which are said to ruminate, or chew 
the cud. They at first swallow their food hastily, and afterward 
return it into their mouths to be chewed over again. The food so 
returned, in order to be chewed a second time, is called the cud, 
whence they are said to chew the cud. The grass, by being swal- 
lowed the first time, by a bull or other ruminating animal, loses its 
verdure in some measure, and becomes yellowish, whence Virgil 
calls the cud pallentes herbas. As regards the peculiar force of pal- 
lentes, consult note on Eclog. ii., 47. — Aliquam. Supply vaccam. 

Claudite, Nympha. The supposed cry of Pasiphae. — Dictcecz. 
" Ye Cretan." Dictcece is here equivalent to Creticce, from Mount 
Dicte, in the Island of Crete, in a cave of which mountain the young 
Jupiter was concealed from the pursuit of Saturn. — Nemorum saltus. 
"The woody avenues of the forests." Compare the explanation 
of Heyne : " Nemorum saltus sunt hie aditus ad silvas, angusti 
fere, asperi et confragosi, quae loca proprie saltus dicuntur." Pa- 
siphae calls on the Cretan nymphs to close these avenues leading 
to the forests, lest the bull may escape by means of them. 

57-59. Ferant sese obvia. " May meet." — Errabunda bovis ves- 
tigia. For errabundi bovis vestigia. — Stabula ad Gortynia. " To 
the stalls of Gortyna." Gortyna, or Gortyn, was a city of Crete, 
next to Cnossos in splendour and importance. It stood in a plain, 
watered by the river Lethaeus, at a distance of ninety stadia from 
the Libyan Sea. The epithet Gortynia, however, would here seem 
to be used in a general sense for a Cretan," i. e., well-known, or 
accustomed. 

61-63. Turn canit Hesperidum, &c. " Then he sings of the maid- 
en that admired the apples of the Hesperides." The allusion is to 
Atalanta, daughter of Schcenus, king of Scyros, or, more correctly, 
according to another account, of Iasion, king of Arcadia. She was 

P2 



174 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 

remarkable for swiftness of foot, and was to be given in marriage 
to him who should conquer her in the race. Hippomenes succeed- 
ed in the attempt, and Atalanta lost the race with him through her 
admiration of three golden apples obtained from the gardens of the 
Hesperides in Africa, and which her artful opponent threw out to 
divert her from her course. — Hesperidum. Consult Anthonys Class. 
Diet., s. v. Hesperides. Observe that Silenus cites the cupidity 
of Atalanta as another instance of the "perturbations of the mind" 
already alluded to. (Consult note on line 41.) 

Turn Phaethontiadas, &c. " Then he surrounds the sisters of 
Phaethon with the moss of a bitter bark, and raises the tall alders 
from the ground," i. e. y he then sings, how the sisters of Phaethon, 
while mourning the untimely fate of their brother, were changed 
into alders. Virgil elsewhere {Mn., x., 190) makes them to have 
been transformed into poplars. Other authorities, again, say into 
larch-trees. The mad folly of Phaethon becomes another instance 
of " perturbation of mind." — Corticis. The noun cortex is both mas- 
culine and feminine. (Consult Ruddimann, Inst., i., p. 39, ed. Stallb.) 

64-66. Turn canit, errantem, &c. The poet, having represented 
the evil effects of unruly passions in these several examples, now 
represents the more happy condition of a wise man, who devotes 
himself to the quiet studies of literature. Under this character, he 
takes an opportunity of paying a most elegant compliment to his 
friend Gallus, who was himself an able poet. — Permessi. The Per- 
messus was a river of Bceotia, rising in Mount Helicon, and sacred 
to the Muses. The poet, to indicate that Gallus was attached to 
poetic studies, describes him as wandering amid the secret haunts 
of the Muses. — Galium. Cornelius Gallus, a distinguished Roman, 
who ranked among the chief of the Latin elegiac writers. He 
stood high in the favour of Augustus, and was at length intrusted 
with the government of Egypt ; but he was guilty of misgovern- 
ment, and, being tried and condemned, put an end to his existence. 

Aonas. " The Aonian." For Aonios. By the " Aonian Mount- 
ains," Helicon is meant, and the name is derived from the Aones, 
the first settlers in Boeotia. — Sororum. Referring to the Muses. — 
Phoebi chorus. The Muses again are meant. — Assurrexerit. They 
rose to do him honour. Compare R., i., 533, seqq., where the dei- 
ties of Olympus rise to receive Jupiter. 

67-73. Linus. Consult note on Eclog., iv., 56. — Divino carmine 
pastor. For the more prosaic divini carminis pastor. According to 
early fables, Linus was a shepherd, like Amphion and Hesiod. — 
Apio. "Celery." — Ascrceoseni. "To the old man of Ascra." The 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 175 

allusion is to Hesiod, who was born at Ascra, in Bceotia. — Quibus 
Me solebat, &c. The poet here ascribes to Hesiod what is usually 
mentioned in ancient legends as a feat of Orpheus. (Compare 
Eclog., iii., 46.) 

Grynei nemoris. The Grynean grove took its name from Gry- 
neum or Grynea, one of the twelve cities of ^Eolis, situate on the 
coast of Lydia, northwest of Cumae. It was celebrated for the wor- 
ship of Apollo. The Celtic name for the sun is Grian. (Consult 
Diefenbach, Celtica, vol. i., p. 138, n. 208.) — Origo. According to 
Servius, Euphorion, a poet of Chalcis, had treated of the Grynean 
grove, and Gallus had translated his poems into Latin verse. — Ne 
quis sit lucus, &c. Apollo will delight in no grove more than this, 
after its praises shall have been sung by Gallus. 

74-77. Quid loquar, ut Scyllam Nisi, &c. " Why need I say how 
he told of Scylla, daughter of Nisus, or (of that other Scylla), of 
whom it is reported that, having her snow-white loins girt with 
barking monsters, she harassed the Dulichian ships," &c. The 
common text has " Quid loquar, ut Scyllam Nisi, quam fama secuta 
est" &c., according to which, Virgil speaks merely of one Scylla, 
and confounds the daughter of Nisus with the daughter of Phorcys. 
Another reading found in numerous MSS., and given also by Ser- 
vius, is as follows : " Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nisi quam fama secuta. 
est," which, like the previous one, makes the poet confound the two 
Scyllas. As it is hardly possible that Virgil could have erred in the 
case of two such ordinary and well-known fables, we have adopted 
the emendation of Doering, which appears to remove the whole 
difficulty. 

Ut Scyllam Nisi. Supply narraverit, and observe the ellipsis of 
filiam with Nisi, in imitation of the Greek. The story of this Scylla 
is referred to by Virgil in the first book of the Georgics, v. 404. — 
Quam fama secuta est, &c. Literally, " Whom report has (ever) 
accompanied (to the following effect, namely, that she)," &c. Ob- 
serve, also, that the full expression in the text would be, " aut Mam 
alteram Scyllam, quam," &c. The reference now is to Scylla, 
daughter of Phorcys, who was transformed by Circe into a monster, 
having the upper part of her body that of a beautiful female as be- 
fore, but the lower part surrounded by barking sea-dogs. For the 
earlier description of Scylla, however, as found in Homer, consult 
Anthori's Class. Diet., s. v. 

Dulichias rates. Alluding to the vessel of Ulysses, which, though 
only a single one, is here, by poetical exaggeration, expressed in the 
plural. Dulichium was the principal island in the group called 



176 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VI. 

Echinades, lying opposite the mouth of the Acheloiis. Virgil would 
seem to make it form part of the dominions of Ulysses, though Ho- 
mer speaks of it as under the sway of Meges. {II., ii., 635.) — Can- 
ibus lacerdsse marinis. Virgil follows here a post-Homeric legend. 
Homer's Scylla is a monster dwelling in a cave in the middle of a 
cliff, whence she stretches forth her six long necks, and out of every 
ship that passes each mouth takes a man. 

78-81. Aut, ut mutatos Terei, &c. For an account of the legend 
of Tereus, consult AnihorCs Class. Diet., s. v. Philomela. Tereus 
was changed into a bird called Ittot/;, or hoopoo. — Quas Mi Philomela 
dapes. Philomela killed her own son Itys, and served up his flesh 
to his father Tereus. — Dona. Referring to the horrid banquet. — 
Quo cursu deserta petiverit. Philomela, on being pursued by Tereus, 
fled to the wilderness, and was changed into a swallow, while her 
sister Procne became a nightingale. — Et quibus ante infelix, &c. 
" And with what pinions the unhappy woman flew about before her 
own abode." A beautiful allusion to the habits of the swallow. 

83-86. Phcebo quondam meditante. "When Phcebus practised of 
old," i. e., sang of yore. (Compare note on Eclog., i., 2.) — Audiit 
Eurotas. Phcebus, according to the legend, having become fond of 
Hyacinthus, son of CEbalus, and a native of Sparta, used to sit by 
the banks of the Eurotas and sing to the music of his lyre, or, in 
other words, to practise strains that might afterward prove pleas- 
ing to the youth. — Jussitque ediscere lauros. "And bade its bay- 
trees treasure up ;" literally, " learn by heart." The region around 
Amyclse, the native city of Hyacinthus, and bordering on the Euro- 
tas, was famed, according to Polybius (v. 19), for its bay-trees. — 
Ille. Silenus. 

Pulsa. Supply sonis. — Referunt. " Re-echo them." — Numerum- 
que referre. " And to count anew the number," i. e., to recount 
the flock. (Compare Voss : " und die Zahlung erneuern," and con 
suit Eclog., iii., 34.) — Jussit. "Ordered the shepherds." At the 
end of the first Eclogue, the evening was described by the smoke 
curling from the roofs of the farm-houses, and the lengthening of 
the shadows ; in the second, by the oxen bringing back the plough ; 
and here we have the rising of the evening star, the gathering of 
the sheep into the folds, and the counting of their number. 

Et invito processit Olympo. "And came forth from reluctant 
Olympus," i. e., and made his appearance in the reluctant sky. 
The very heavens were so delighted with the strains of Silenus, that 
they felt reluctant to yield to the close of day, and allow the star of 
evening to come forth in the sky. 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 177 



ECLOGUE VII. 

Subject. 

In this Eclogue is represented an amcebean contest between two 
shepherds, Corydon and Thyrsis. They are described as sitting 
under a tree in company with Daphnis, who seems to have been 
appointed an umpire between them. Melibceus, happening to pass 
that way in search of a goat that had strayed, is espied by Daphnis, 
who calls to him, and insists on his staying to hear the dispute. 
The whole affair is related by Melibceus. 

This Eclogue was composed, according to Voss, in the spring of 
A.U.C. 716, when Virgil was in his thirty-second year. 



1-5. Sub argutd ilice. " Beneath a whispering holm oak." The 
soft rustling of the foliage by the vernal breeze is beautifully com- 
pared to a whispering sound. So with the Greek poets, a tree adei, 
ovpifrTdt, (leM&rai, rjudvptfri. — In unum. Supply locum. — Florcntes 
atatibus. "In the flower of their age." — Arcades ambo. "Both 
Arcadians (in skill)." The Arcadians were celebrated for their 
skill in song, and hence Corydon and Thyrsis are complimented 
With the title of very Arcadians on account of their own skill in 
this respect. According to Polybius (iv., 20), the natives of Arca- 
dia were required by law to study the musical art until their thir- 
tieth year. In early boyhood they had to sing hymns and pagans to 
the heroes and gods of their country ; and at a later period they 
were taught the measures of Philoxenus and Timotheus. Voss 
makes Arcades in the text have an actual reference to Arcadian 
descent, and thinks that Corydon and Thyrsis may have been 
sprung from Arcadian slaves, who had been brought to Italy after 
the fall of Corinth. This, however, appears very far-fetched. 

Et cantare pares, &c. Referring to their skill in amcebean song. 
(Compare the accounts that are given of the modern improvisatori 
in Italy.) 

6-7. Hue. " To this quarter." Some editions have hie, an infe- 
rior reading. — Bum teneras defendo, &c. The season was early 
spring, when the weather is still cool, and the myrtles of Meliboeus 
being young and tender, stood in need of shelter. The Myrtus com- 
munis Italica of Bauhin, or common myrtle, grows plentifully in Italy ; 
but even in Italy it does not love cold, especially when planted in 
gardens. Some commentators think that the mention of the shady 



178 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 

holm oak makes a difficulty here, and points to a more advanced 
season ; but this, in fact, proves nothing, since the holm oak is green 
all winter. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

Vir gregis ipse caper. " The he-goat himself, the husband of my 
flock." (Compare Theocritus, viii., 49 : T S2 rpdye, rav Aevicav aly&v 
uvep.) Observe the force of ipse here, implying that he was followed 
by the rest of the flock (Wagner, Quast. Virg., xviii., 2, £.); and 
hence we have, in verse 9th, " caper tibi salvus et hadi." 

8-9. Contra. " On the other hand." — Caper tibi salvus, &c. 
Daphnis, having observed them going astray, had driven them into 
a place of safety. — Si quid cessare potes. "If thou canst stay 
a while ;" literally, " canst in any respect cease from or leave off 
thy present employment." — Ipsi. " Of their own accord," i. e., with- 
out any necessity of their being looked after by him. — Juvenci. 
" Thy steers." Voss maintains that the steers of Daphnis are 
meant, not those of Meliboeus. Spohn is of the same way of think- 
ing, and states as a reason for this opinion that shepherds were 
accustomed to tend only one kind of animals each, not different 
kinds. Both, however, are in error. The general tenour of what 
is said by Meliboeus plainly shows that the steers were his ; and, 
moreover, it appears very clearly from the third Eclogue (v. 3, 6, 
and 29) that the same shepherd could have charge of sheep, lambs, 
and cattle. 

12-16. Mincius. This river flows from Lake Benacus into the 
Po, and being a sluggish stream, has its banks marshy and covered 
with reeds. Mantua is situate on an island in it. — Sacra quercu. 
The oak was sacred to Jove. — Examina. " The swarms of bees." 
Examen is from exagmen, and denotes, properly, a swarm of young 
bees compelled to leave the parent hive and seek for new settle- 
ments. Here, however, it is to be taken in a general sense. — 
Neque ego Alcippen, &c. Alcippe was the fair companion of Cory- 
don, and Phyllis of Thyrsis. Meliboeus means that he had no one 
to aid him in his domestic operations, as Corydon and Thyrsis had ; 
that he had neither an Alcippe, like Corydon, nor a Phyllis, like 
Thyrsis, to shut up for him the weaned lambs at home. 

Depulsos a lacte. " The weaned." For a literal translation, sup- 
ply matris with lacte. Lambs just weaned required particular care, 
being still feeble and tender. — Et certamen erat, &c. " While, on 
the other hand, it was a great contest, Corydon with Thyrsis," i. e., 
it was a most interesting amcebean contest that was about to take 
place ; no less a one than Corydon matched with Thyrsis. 

17-19. Posthabui tamen, &c. " However, I made my grave con- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 179 

cerns yield to" their sport." — Alternos Musiz meminisse volebant. 
" The Muses willed them to sing in alternate strain," i. e., ordered or 
directed them ; literally, " the Muses willed that they remember 
alternate (verses)." Meminisse is here employed for cantare, in al- 
lusion to the ordinary custom of poets, who represent themselves 
as merely learning strains from the Muses, and then uttering them 
as a simple act of memory. Voss reads volebam, which is recog- 
nised also by some MSS., and gives it the force of vellem. Hence 
he would translate as follows : " Would, O ye Muses, that I may 
remember their alternate strains," i. e., grant unto me, O Muses, 
to remember well their strains. Servius, who makes mention of 
this same reading, gives a similar explanation. The reading in our 
text, however, is preferred by Heyne, Schirach (p. 328), Scheller 
(Observ. ; n Prise. Script., &c., p. 314), and Wagner. 

21-23. Nympha. Observe that this term is here applied to the 
Muses. Hermann shows that the Muses belong to the general 
class of Nymphs, but that not all the Nymphs are Muses ; and, 
moreover, that the Nymphs of fountains, from their filling the mind 
with a divine inspiration, are frequently invoked by the poets in the 
stead of the Muses. (Herm., de Mtisis fluvial., &c, p. 6.) — Libeth- 
rides. The Muses are here called " Libethrian," from Libethrus or 
Libethrum, a fountain and cave on Mount Helicon, sacred to these 
deities. Observe that this first amoebean quatrain contains a prayer 
for poetry. Corydon entreats the Muses to give him such a power 
of verse as they have bestowed on Codrus, otherwise, he declares, 
he will give over the art. 

Codro. Codrus, a shepherd. He is supposed by some to be the 
same with the one mentioned in the fifth Eclogue (v. 11). The 
scholia published by Mai state that most persons considered Virgil 
to be meant under the name of Codrus ; others, Cornificius ; some, 
Helvius. — Proximo.. Agreeing with carmina understood. — Aut, si 
non possumus omnes. "Or else, if we cannot all (do the same)," 
i. e., if we cannot all compose strains next in merit to the verses 
of Phoebus. If we cannot all equal Codrus. — Hie arguta sacra, &c. 
They who abandoned any art or profession hung up and consecra- 
ted to some deity the instrument of the calling which they thus left. 

25-28. Pastores, hederd, &c. " Ye Arcadian shepherds, adorn with 
ivy the rising poet," i. e., deck him with the ivy crown. The prize 
for success in poetry was an ivy crown. Thyrsis is here supposed 
to mean himself, and he prays that the Arcadian shepherds, that 
is, the shepherds skilled in song, may foster his poetic skill by their 
praises, so that the malignant Codrus may burst with envy. — Cres- 



180 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 



centem. We have given this reading with Heyne, in opposition to 
Voss, Wagner, and others, who prefer nascentem, a lection that oc- 
curs in several MSS. 

Aut, si ultra placitum, &c. " Or, if he shall have praised beyond 
(his own) liking," i. e., immoderately and insincerely, and with the 
evident intention of injuring him whom he praises. The ancients 
believed that immoderate and insincere praises, bestowed with evil 
intent, brought upon the person praised the hurtful charm of an evil 
tongue, as it was termed. Thyrsis prays that the youthful bard 
(meaning himself) may be shielded from the evil effects of such 
praise by the protecting influence of a chapletof baccaris.— Placitum. 
Supply sibimet ipsi. Praise far beyond what he himself likes, and 
which he bestows only in the hope that it may do harm. — Baccare. 
As regards the baccaris consult note on Eclog., iv., 19. — Vati future-. 
" The future bard," i. e., the youthful poet who now addresses you, 
when in future days his powers shall have become fully matured. 

29-32. S&tosi caput hoc apri, &c. A new character is now intro- 
duced, the young hunter Micon, who consecrates to Diana, the 
Goddess of Hunting, a portion of the spoils of the chase, and prom- 
ises to erect a marble statue to her if she will make him always 
enjoy equal success in the hunt. The rules of amoebean song al- 
lowed this change of character, and the bringing in of the actions 
and words of others. — Delia. " Delian goddess." Diana was so 
called from her natal island of Delos ; and from the same cause, 
Apollo was styled Delius. — Parvus Micon. " The youthful Micon." 
We must here supply dicat, " consecrates," an ellipsis of very com- 
mon occurrence in such cases. This consecrating consisted in sus- 
pending the offering from a tree. 

Vivacis cervi. " Of a long-lived 
stag." The stag was famed for 
its longevity, a circumstance oft- 
en alluded to by both poets and 
prose writers among the ancients. 
(Compare Juv., xiv., 125 ; Ov., 
Met., iii., 194 ; Cic, Tusc, iii., 28, 
&c.) — Si proprium hoc fuerit, &c. 
" If this (success) shall be last- 
ing." Observe that hoc gets its 
peculiar force here from what 
immediately precedes. — Tota. 
"At full length," i. c, not a 
bust merelv or herma. — Cothur- 




NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 181 

no. The shape and mode of wearing the cothurnus, or " buskin," may 
be seen from the preceding cut, where two separate delineations 
are given from different statues. 

33-36. Sinum lactis, &c. " It is sufficient for thee, O Priapus, 
to expect every year a jug of milk, and these cakes." By sinum 
(another form for which, in the nominative, is sinus) is meant a 
vessel with a large protuberance or belly, like what we call a jug. 
Varro derives it from sinus, which appears hardly correct, since 
sinus, " a bosom," has tbe initial syllable short. Turnebus traces 
an analogy between it and dtvoc, "vortex." — Lactis. The inferior 
deities did not use to have victims offered unto them, but milk, 
cakes, and fruit. — Liba. Cakes made of meal, oil, and honey, and 
accustomed to be used in sacrifices. — Priape. Priapus was the god 
not only of gardens, but of fruitfulness in general. In this quatrain 
a shepherd speaks, and tells Priapus that, though, from his poverty, 
he may expect only an offering of milk and cakes, yet if he will 
cause his flock to increase, instead of a marble statue he will make 
him a golden one. 

Pro tempore. " From our present means." (Compare the Greek 
en t&v napovTov.) — Si fetura gregem suppleverit. " If increase shall 
have filled up the flock ;" literally, " if the bearing of young," &c. — 
Aureus esto. "Be thou of gold," i. e., thou shalt be of gold. This, 
of course, is mere ridiculous boasting, and is intended by the poet 
to be characteristic of the singer himself. 

37-40. Nerine Galatea. " Galatea, daughter of Nereus." 
Galatea was a sea-nymph, one of the Nereides, and daughter of 
Nereus and Doris. Corydon, though a simple shepherd, addresses 
her here as the object of his love, and invites her to come to him 
at eve. — Thymo Hyblce. As regards the thymus of the ancients, 
consult note on Eclog., v., 77, and, with respect to Hybla, the note 
on Eclog., i., 55. — Hederd alba. Whatever plant the white ivy of 
the ancients was, it is plain from this passage that it was accounted 
the most beautiful. Virgil does not seem to have mentioned this 
species in any other place ; for, where he uses the epithet pallens, 
it is most probable that he means the sort with yellow berries, 
which was used in the garlands with which poets were crowned. 

41-44. Immo ego Sardoniis, &c. " Nay, indeed, may I appear to 
thee more bitter than Sardinian herbs." The reference here is to 
a poisonous herb of Sardinia, a species of ranunculus, or " crowfoot." 
According to Dioscorides, this herb, when taken inwardly, deprives 
a person of his understanding, and causes convulsions, with a dis- 
tortion of the mouth resembling laughter. Hence a " Sardonic 

Q 



182 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 

laugh" became a common expression for a forced laugh, when the 
heart is all the while ill at ease. 

Rusco. " Than butcher's broom." This is a prickly plant, which 
grows in the woods. It is also called " knee- holly." — Projectd alga. 
"Than sea-weed cast upon the shore," i. e., by the waves. We 
have, observes Martyn, several species of submarine plants, which 
are commonly called alga, fucus, or " sea-wrack." But that which 
the ancients peculiarly called so grew about the island of Crete, 
and afforded a purple colour. The submarine plants are frequently 
torn from the rocks by storms, tossed about by the sea, and at last 
thrown upon the shore. The alga, when thus treated, in all prob- 
ability loses its colour, and becomes useless. 

Si mihi non hac lux, &c. In this quatrain Thyrsis, in like manner, 
invites his loved one to come to him, and declares that, while wait- 
ing for her arrival, a single day appears to him longer than a whole 
year. — Si qiiis pudor. He chides his cattle for their delay in return- 
ing from the pasturage, and in thus deferring his meeting with the 
object of his affections. 

45-48. Muscosi fontes, &c. Corydon eulogizes the benefits of 
coolness and shade to the cattle which are abroad during the heat 
of summer, as well as to those who tend them. Thyrsis, on the 
other hand, extols the comforts of warmth and a good fire within 
doors during the winter's cold. Observe that the epithet muscosi, 
** mossy," is very expressive of coolness, because moss will seldom 
grow where there is any considerable degree of heat. — Somno mol- 
lior herba. " Herbage softer than sleep." A beautiful image, bor- 
rowed from Theocritus. (Compare Idyll., xv., 125: TaTnjrec vnvu 
fiaTianuTepoi.) 

Et qua vos rard, &c. " And the green arbute that covers you with 
a thin shade." As regards the arbute tree, consult note on Ec- 
log. 3, 82. — Solstitium defendite. " Ward off the midsummer heat ;" 
literally, "the solstice." Observe that solstitium is the summer 
solstice ; bruma, the winter solstice. — Gemma. "The buds." The 
gemma, oculi, or buds, are the first appearance of the young shoots 
of trees and shrubs. They discover themselves first in summer, 
being like scales closely enfolding each other. In this state they 
remain during the winter, and in the following spring unfold them- 
selves, and produce the new shoots. This is spoken, therefore, of 
the spring season, when the buds of the vine swell, and prepare to 
develop themselves. 

49-52. Tada pingues. " Torches rich with resin." By tada are 
here meant torches made of fir, pine, or other unctuous wood that 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 183 

is easily ignited. — Et assidud postes, &c. " And door-posts black 
with continued smoke ;" literally, " continual soot." We have here 
a description of a cottage, having no chimney of course, and the 
door-posts are therefore all blackened with the smoke that escapes 
in part from the doorway. (Consult note on Eclog., i., 83.) 

Curamus. "We care for," i. e., we regard or mind. — Numerum. 
" The number of the sheep." The wolf cares nothing for the num- 
ber of the sheep, but attacks them at once, without heeding how 
many there may be of them. — Torrentia flumina. " Impetuous riv- 
ers." (Compare the Greek xapadpaloc Tzorafioi.) 

53-56. Stant et juniperi, &c. " Both junipers and rough chest- 
nuts stand thick to the view." The season now changes to autumn, 
when the juniper berries are ripe, and the chestnut in its rough 
outer covering everywhere meets the view. Hence the meaning 
of the whole passage is this : Mild autumn is on the mountains ; 
the forest and fruit trees are loaded with produce ; the mountain 
streams are full ; but without Alexis all would appear a desert. 
Observe here the force of stant, which is much stronger than sunt 
would have been. 

Sua qudque sub arbore, &c. " Each under their own tree." Voss 
reads sua quaque, making sua an ablative, and to be pronounced as 
a monosyllable (swd). Wunderlich, in his Epistle to Heeren (p. 7), 
approves of this. It is very unlikely, however, that a poet of the 
Augustan age would adopt so rough and antiquated a mode of ex- 
pression. Ennius, it is true, often employs suo, suos, suas, suis, 
&c., as monosyllables (Hessel, p. 32, 297), but Ennius and Virgil 
have very different ideas of the melody of verse. — Et flumina. 
"Even the rivers," i. e., the very mountain streams. 

57-60. Aret ager, &c. Thyrsis represents the whole face of na- 
ture as reviving at the approach of his Phyllis. — Vitio moriens sitit, 
&c. " The dying herbage thirsts by reason of the drought ;" liter- 
ally, " through the viciousness of the temperature," i. e., the excess- 
ive heat, and its attendant drought. — Liber pampineas, &c. A 
more poetical mode of expressing the idea already implied in aret 
ager : the vineyards, namely, are suffering from the heat, the leaves 
are becoming parched, and " Bacchus has envied the shade of the 
vine to the hills," i. e., the vine gives no longer any shade. — Jupiter. 
Taken here figuratively for the sky or upper air. (Compare Georg., 
u\, 325.) 

61-64. Populus AlcidcB gratissima, &c. Cory don now mentions 
some trees in which several deities delight, and declares that he 
prefers the hazel to any of them, because it is the favourite of Phyl- 



184 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VII. 

lis. Thyrsis answers by an apostrophe to Lycidas, and by telling 
him that the fairest trees shall yield to him if he will let him have 
his company often. — Alcidce. The poplar was sacred to Hercules, 
because, according to the poets, he crowned his brows with the 
twigs of a white poplar, growing on the banks of the Acheron, when 
he returned from the lower world with Cerberus. — Laurea. (Con- 
sult note on Eclog. 2, 54.) 

65-69. Fraxinus. The ash is called, by way of eminence, the 
husbandman's tree, nothing being equal to it for agricultural imple- 
ments, and for all sorts of poles, ladders, long handles, and other 
purposes which require strength and elasticity combined with com- 
parative lightness. — Pinus in hortis. The pine here meant is the 
Pinus sativa, a manured pine, which is commonly cultivated in gar- 
dens. It is also found wild in Italy, particularly about the Ravenna. 
(Martyn, ad loc.)—InJluviis. " On the rivers' banks." Equivalent, 
in fact, to adfiuvios. (Compare Propert., i., 2, 11.) 

Hcbc memini, &c. Melibceus now resumes his narrative, and in- 
forms us that Corydon gained the victory. — Ex Mo, Corydon, &c. 
"From that time Corydon, Corydon is our man." A great differ- 
ence of opinion prevails with regard to this verse. Heyne pro- 
nounces it spurious, and altogether unworthy of Virgil. Voss ex- 
plains it as follows : " from that time Corydon is a Corydon for 
me ;" making Corydon and excellence synonymous. We have given 
the explanation of Wagner, which appears to be the most natural 
one. The repetition of the proper name is meant to be emphatic, 
as in Eclog., ii., 69: "Ah, Corydon! Corydon! qua? te dementia 
cepit !" 






NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 185 



ECLOGUE VIII. 

Subject. 

This Eclogue, which is entitled the Pharmaceutria, or " Sorcer- 
ess," consists of two parts, which do not appear to have any con- 
nexion with each other, except that they seem to have been sung 
by two shepherds who were striving together for superiority in 
verse. The first part, imitated from the third Idyl of Theocritus, 
comprehends the complaints and lamentations of the shepherd Da- 
mon for the loss of his mistress Nisa, who had preferred his rival 
Mopsus. In the remaining portion, which is borrowed from the 
second Idyl (QapfiaKevrpia) of the same poet, the other shepherd, 
who is called Alphesiboeus, recites the magic incantations of a sor- 
ceress, who attempts by means of these to regain the lost affec- 
tions of Daphnis. This concluding part, which gives name to the 
whole Eclogue, is valuable, not only for its poetical beauties, but 
for the information which it has preserved to us concerning several 
superstitious rites, and the heathen notions of enchantment. 

This Eclogue, according to Voss, was composed in the autumn 
of A.U.C. 715, when Virgil was in his 31st year. 



1-5. Pastorum musam, &c. *' We will relate the songs of the 
shepherds Damon and Alphesibceus." Supply dicemus, which is ex- v 
pressed shortly after in the 5th verse. Observe, also, that musam 
is here equivalent to carmina. — Juvenca. " The heifer." By sy- 
necdoche, for the entire herd, which consisted principally of female 
animals. (Voss, ad loc.) — Quorum stupefacta, &c. "At the strain 
of each of whom the lynxes were struck with silent wonder." The 
ancients, as Gesner remarks, gave the name of lynx to various an- 
imals. Martyn thinks that the ounce is here meant ; it would be 
more correct, however, to say the caracal. Voss is of opinion that, 
from the mention here made of lynxes, which, according to Pliny 
(xxviii., 8), were never found in Italy, and from the allusion to the 
tibia, in verse 21, &c, the scene of this Eclogue is laid in a foreign 
land ; and this land he makes to have been Thessaly, and the re- 
gion of Mount Pindus, both from the CEtean rising of Hesperus, in 
verse 30, and from the magic rites of which mention is made, and 
for which the Thessalians were famous. 

Et mutata suos, &c. " And the rivers, changed as to their courses, 
stood still." After the rivers had flowed to the spot where the po- 

Q2 



186 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 

etical contest took place, they stopped in their courses. (Schirach, 
p. 564, and Voss> ad loc.) 

6-7. Tu mihi seu magni, &c " Whether thou art now passing 
for me over the rocks of the great Timavus." This is addressed to 
Asinius Pollio, who was now on his return from the reduction of 
the Parthihi, an Ulyrian tribe. Pollio was the first that urged Vir- 
gil to the task of pastoral poetry, and the bard had already dedica- 
ted to him his fourth Eclogue. And now, when his early patron 
was returning home with so much glory, it was meet for the poet 
to send unto him again the tribute of his muse. — Mihi. To be con- 
strued with superas, not, as Heyne maintains, with accipe. It is what 
grammarians call the " dativus ethicus," and indicates that a thing 
has a certain relation to ourselves also. In the present instance it 
denotes the joy which the poet feels on the safe and glorious re- 
turn of Pollio. 

Timavi. The Timavus was a celebrated stream of Italy, in the 
territory of Venetia, northeast of Aquileia, and falling into the 
Adriatic. The poet expresses his doubt in the text whether Pollio 
would be found, by the poetic tribute which he here sends, at the 
rocky mouth of the Timavus, or, at a far more distant point, coast- 
ing along the Ulyrian shore. — Superas. This can only be under- 
stood here in the sense of sailing over, and can have no reference, 
as some think, to a land march. 

8-10. Ille dies. Observe the force of ille here in marking the fu- 
ture. — Dicer e. " To tell of," i. e., in epic, and more elevated strain 
than I now employ. — Erit, ut liceat mihi. " Shall J ever be permitted ;" 
literally, " will it be that I shall be allowed." — Sola Sophocleo, &c. 
"Thy poems alone worthy of the buskin of Sophocles," i. e., thy 
dramatic productions alone worthy of being compared with the 
stately and dignified tragedies of a Sophocles. Pollio, as has al- 
ready been remarked, was the author of several tragedies, iftne of 
which, however, as we may infer from the present passage, had as 
yet seen the light. 

Sophocleo cothurno. The cothurnus, or buskin, worn by the an- 
cient actor in tragedy, is here taken figuratively for tragedy itself. 
The epithet Sophocleo must not be understood in such a sense as if 
Sophocles were the inventor of the tragic buskin. This part of the 
theatrical costume had been introduced by ^Eschylus. It contains 
merely a reference to the dramatist himself and his productions. 

11-13. A tc principium, &c. "From thee (was) our commence- 
ment ; with thee (our song) shall end," i. e., it was thou that didst 
first encourage me to write poetry, and to thee, therefore, shall the 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 187 

last effort of my muse be consecrated. — Inter victrices lauros. Al- 
luding to Pollio's victory over the Parthini, and the triumph which 
he was about to enjoy for it at Rome. The ivy here spoken of is 
the poetic kind, or the Hcdera baccis aureis, with which bards were 
crowned, and hence, when Virgil entreats his patron to permit this 
ivy to creep among his victorious bays, he desires him, in fact, to 
condescend to accept of these verses in the midst of his victories. 

14-16. Frigida vix cazlo, &c. The first part of the Eclogue now 
begins. The poet represents the despairing lover, Damon, at early 
dawn, " leaning on a tapering olive staff," and beginning his com- 
plaints with the first appearance of morning. — Incumbens tereti, &c. 
Some commentators understand olivce here as said of a tree against 
which the shepherd was leaning, not of a staff over which he was 
bending. The usage of the language, however, is the other way, 
since, if Virgil intended to express this idea, he would have employed 
recumbens, and in that case, too, the epithet tereti would have lost 
all its force. 

17-20. Prceque veniens age. " And, preceding, usher in." A tme- 
sis for praveniensque age. — Lucifer. " Star of morning." The 
Qucfyopoc of the Greeks. — Corijugis indigno Nisce, &c. " Deceived 
by the faithless love of Nisa, who had promised to be mine." Con- 
jux is here not to be taken in its literal sense, neither is it equiva- 
lent merely to arnica, as Heyne maintains, nor to amata, as Jani as- 
serts, but it denotes one who had plighted her faith and promised 
to be his. Observe, moreover, that indigno amore properly means 
an " unworthy affection," that is, an affection unworthy of the re- 
liance of Damon, or, in other words, a faithless one. 

Quamquam nil testibus Mis, &c. " Although I have profited no- 
thing from their being witnesses," i. e., from their having been so 
often invoked by her as witnesses of the sincerity of her attach- 
ment. -f-Mloquor. "Call upon," i. e., invoke the aid of. Heyne, 
less correctly, explains it by "incusandi eos causa." 

21-26. Jncipe Mcenalios mecum, &c. " Begin with me, my pipe, 
Maenalian strains," i. e., Arcadian, or pastoral strains, Msenalus be- 
ing a mountain-chain in Arcadia. This is a species of intercalary 
verse, examples of which are also found in Theocritus and Bion, 
and occurs, as will be perceived, at irregular intervals. It is em- 
ployed to usher in a stave or portion of the song, and is supposed 
to be immediately followed by some notes of the pipe, as a prelude 
to the particular portion of the song that comes after. There is 
nothing incongruous, it may be remarked, in the shepherd's leaning 
on a staff, and yet, at the same time, playing on the pipe, since this 



188 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 

could easily be done with one hand, the pipe being a single one, 
and of the simplest construction. The ancient painting which rep- 
resents Marsyas teaching the young Olympus to play on the pipe 
proves this conclusively. 

Manalus argutumque nemus, &c. " Maenalus always has both a 
vocal grove and speaking pines." Heyne explains this by the 
whispering breezes, as they play amid the foliage ; but Spohn and 
Wagner, with more propriety, make it to be an allusion to the pas- 
toral music with which the grove continually resounds. Hence 
the expression in the next line, " Semper pastorum ilk audit amoves." 
Maenalus was a mountain-range in the southeastern part of Arca- 
dia, sacred to the god Pan, and considered, on account of its ex- 
cellent pastures, to be one of the favourite haunts of that rural deity. 

Qui primus calamos, &c. " Who was the first that suffered not 
the reeds to be idle," i. e., he made them musical by the invention 
of the syrinx. (Compare Eclog., ii., 32.) 

26-28. Mopso Nisa datur. Damon now explains the full cause of 
his grief, the nuptials of Nisa with his more fortunate rival Mop- 
sus ; and, as he was every way unworthy of her, the most singular 
and unexpected unions may now, according to the disappointed 
lover, be expected to take place. — Quid non speremus amantes 1 
" What may not we who love now expect (to be able to take place) 1" 
i. e., we may now look for anything, no matter how strange, to 
happen. Supply fieri posse after speremus. 

Jungentur. Supply eidem cur rui. (Voss,adloc.) — Gryphes. "Grif- 
fons." Fabulous monsters, having the body of a lion, and the head 
and wings of an eagle. According to Herodotus (hi., 116), they 
guarded the gold found in the vicinity of the Arimaspians, a Scyth- 
ian race, from the attempts of that people to make themselves 
masters of it. (Consult Anthonys Class. Diet., s. v. Gryphes.) — 
JEvoque sequenti. " And in another age," i. e., and hexeafter. 
Equivalent to in posterum. — Ad pocula. " To drink." Equivalent 
to adpotum. Compare Georg., hi., 529, "pocula sunt fontes liquidi." 

29-30. Novas incide faces. The torches would be used, accord- 
ing to custom, in conducting the bride to her husband's abode. 
Observe that novas is here merely an ornamental epithet. — Ducitur. 
*' Is being led home," i. e., is about to be conducted to thy abode. — 
Sparge marite nuces. " Scatter the nuts, O bridegroom." The al- 
lusion is to an ancient custom among the Romans in the celebra- 
tion of marriages. When the bride was brought to her husband's 
abode, and led to the nuptial chamber, it was customary for the 
bridegroom to scatter nuts among the company, especially the 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 189 

younger part of them, to indicate that he now bade farewell to 
frivolous pursuits, and entered upon graver duties. (Casaub. ad 
Pers., Sat., i., 10.) 

Tibi descrit Hesperus (Etam. " The star of eve is forsaking CEta 
for thee," i. e., for thee eagerly desiring its approach. CEta was 
a celebrated mountain-chain in Thessaly, the eastern extremity of 
which, in conjunction with the sea, formed the famous pass of 
Thermopylae. The evening star is here described as leaving CEta 
at the close of day, that is, as appearing above its summits at eve. 

32-35. digno conjuncta viro, &c. He commends the choice of 
Nisa ironically, and accuses her of broken vows. — Dumque capella. 
"And while my she-goats are so too," i. e., are also objects of ha- 
tred unto thee. — Hirsutumque supercilium. Copied from Theocri- 
tus {Id., xi., 31), where Polyphemus tells Galatea that she does not 
love him because he has a great shaggy eyebrow, extending from 
ear to ear. — Curare mortalia. " Cares for human affairs," i. e., con- 
cerns himself about the punishment of perjury, and consequently 
about thee. 

37-42* Sepibus in nostris. " Within our garden enclosure ;" 
literally, " in our hedges," i. e., in our garden enclosed by hedges. 
— Parvam. "Then a little girl." — Roscida. "Dewy," i. e., sprin- 
kled with morning dew. — Dux. "Guide." — Cummatre. "With 
thy mother."— Alter ab undecimo, &c. " My twelfth year had then 
just received me," i. e., was then just begun. There is a great dif- 
ference of opinion among commentators with regard to the mean- 
ing of alter ab undecimo in this passage, some making it signify the 
twelfth, others the thirteenth. The former is the more correct way 
of rendering. In such expressions, the term governed by ab must 
be considered as the first in the series ; so that, regarding undeci- 
mus here as the first term, and alter ab undecimo as the second, the 
year is the twelfth, and not the thirteenth. {Crombie, Gymnas., vol. 
i., p. 230, ed. 6.) — Acceperat. Heyne reads ceperat, which is infe- 
rior. We have given the lection of Wagner. 

Vt vidi, ut perii, &c. " As soon as I beheld thee, oh ! how I was 
undone ! Oh ! how a fatal error bore me away as its own !" The 
first ut has a temporal force, the second and third belong to ex- 
clamations. (Voss, ad loc. — Tursell. de Partic, p. 1097, ed. Schwartz.) 
Heyne errs in explaining the passage by " cum vidi, turn sialim ex~ 
arsi." Voss correctly denies this to be Latin. The whole passage 
is imitated from Theocritus (id., ii., 82), X' uc Uov, uc hfj.avr]v! &q 
fiev Tzepl tivfibc iatydri Aeilaiac ! and again (Id., iii., 42), 'Qc idev, wf 



190 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 

Error. In allusion to the bewildering influence of love. Hence the 
force of abstulit : bore me away from myself, from my calmer self. 

43-45. Nunc scio, &c. (Compare Theocritus, Id., iii., 15 : Nvv lyvu>v 
Tdv"EpuTa.)—Cotibus. The earlier form for cautibus. (Compare Pris- 
cian, I, 9, 52, p. 562, ed. Putsch., and Schneider, Lat. Gr., i., 1, p. 59.) 
— Tmaros. A mountain of Epirus, called also Tomarus, at the foot 
of which stood Dodona. — Rhodope. A mountain-range of Thessaly, 
forming, in a great degree, its western boundary. — Garamantes. A 
people of Africa, occupying, as the ancients believed, the extreme 
parts of that continent beyond Gaetulia. (Compare Mn., iv., 365.) 
— Edunt. " Bring forth," i. e., give being to. The present is here 
employed for the past tense, in order to impart an air of greater 
animation to the narrative. (Wunderlich, ad loc. ; Wagner, ad Eleg. 
ad Messal, p. 27.) 

47-50. Matrem. Medea is meant, who destroyed the two sons whom 
she had by Jason. This was done on account of the marriage of 
Jason with the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, and his conse- 
quent abandonment of Medea. — Crudelis tu quoque, &c. The shep- 
herd accuses the God of Love of cruelty, in having compelled a moth- 
er to destroy her own children ; but then he confesses, at the 
same time, that the mother also was cruel. After this he raises a 
question whether there were greater wickedness in Cupid, or great- 
er cruelty in the mother, and concludes that the crime was equal. 

Crudelis mater magis, &c. Heyne thinks that this line and the 
one which follows are interpolations. They are successfully de- 
fended, however, by Wagner. 

52-57. Nunc et ovcs, &c. Imitated from Theocritus {Id., i., 132- 
136). The shepherd now returns to the absurdity of this match of 
Nisa with Mopsus, and declares that nothing can seem strange 
after this unequal match. — Aurea mala. (Consult note on Eclog., 
iii., 71. — Narcisso. (Consult note on Eclog., v.. 38.)— Pinguia cor- 
ticibus, &c. "Let the rich amber exude from the bark of the tam- 
arisk." Amber, as well as any resin exuding from trees, may, with 
the same propriety, be termed "pinguis". as wax and honey ; lit- 
erally, "let the fat amber," &c. 

Certent et cycnis, &c. The ancients imagined that the swan sang 
sweetly at the time of its death. — Sit Tityrus Orpheus, &c. " Let 
Tityrus be another Orpheus : an Orpheus in the woods, an Arion 
amid the dolphins." Let Tityrus, rude in song, become a second 
Orpheus ; let him be as melodious as Orpheus was amid the wild 
beasts and the forests, as melodious as Arion was amid the dolphins 
in the sea. — Arion. A celebrated musician, and native of Methym- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 191 

ne, in the Island of Lesbos. When sailing, on one occasion, from 
Tarentum to Corinth, with a large amount of money which he had 
accumulated by his professional skill, he was compelled by the sea- 
men to deliver up to them his treasures* and take his choice either 
of killing himself or of leaping into the sea. He chose the latter al- 
ternative, but begged of them to allow him to play one tune before 
he jumped overboard. To this they assented. Arion, accordingly, 
went through his performance, and then threw himself into the sea ; 
whereupon, says the legend, a dolphin took him up on its back and 
bore him safely to land. 

58-60. Omnia vel medium, &c. " Let all things become very mid- 
ocean," i. e., let the deep waters of the sea cover all things. The- 
ocritus has navra d' ZvaXka yivowro, " let all things, too, become 
completely changed." (Id., i., 134.) Can it be supposed that Virgil 
either did not understand this verse of Theocritus, or, possessing an 
incorrect copy of the Greek poet, pronounced tbe adjective evaXa, 
enhala 1 or how can we account for " Omnia vel medium riant mare" 
in his imitation of Theocritus 1 (Hickie, ad Theocr,, i., 134.) 

Vivite. " Fare ye well." — Specula. " The top." So called from 
its being a look-out place, or place of observation. (Compare the 
corresponding usage in the Greek aKomd.) — Extremum hoc munus, 
&c. " Take this last gift of a dying man." This is addressed to 
Nisa, and the reference is, not, as Heyne supposes, to this last po- 
etical effusion of Damon's, but to his death, which he thinks will be 
an acceptable offering to the cruel fair one. 

62-63. Vos, qua. respondent, &c. The poet, having recited these 
verses of Damon's, declares that he is unable to proceed any farther, 
by his own unassisted endeavours, and therefore calls upon the 
Muses to relate the answer of Alphesibceus. — Non omnia possumus 
omnes. " We cannot all do all things." Omnis, multus, and words 
of similar import are often repeated in this way. (Consult Beier, 
ad Cic, de Off., i., 17.) 

64-65. Effer aquam, &c. Alphesibceus assumes the character of 
a sorceress, who is about performing a magical sacrifice, in order 
to bring her beloved home, and regain his love which she had lost. 
These words of the sorceress are addressed to her assistant, whose 
name we afterward find to be Amaryllis. The water brought out 
is lustral water, to be employed in the sacrifice. — Et molli cinge, &c. 
The fillet is here called soft because made of wool. Altars were 
adorned not only with fillets, but also with garlands and festoons. 
The fillets were used partly because they were themselves orna- 
mental, and partly for the purpose of attaching the festoon to the 



192 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 



altar. The altar represented in the following cut shows the man- 
ner in which the festoons were commonly suspended. 




Verbenasque pingues. " The rich vervain." Verbena is sometimes 
employed to denote a specific plant, namely, the vervain, which was 
held sacred among the Romans. At other times it is used to des- 
ignate any herb brought from a consecrated place, and also any 
plants, &c, used in decking altars. The epithet pingues shows that 
the first meaning is the one required by the present passage. — Mas- 
cula thura. " Male frankincense." The ancients called the best sort 
of frankincense male. As regards the peculiar force of adolere, con- 
sult note on Mn., i., 704. 

66-68. Conjugis ut magicis, &c. " That I may try to subvert by 
magic rites the sound senses of him who once promised to be 
mine," i. e., may inspire him with the phrensy of love, may turn 
away his senses from their sound and ordinary course. Some un- 
derstand this to mean, may turn away his senses from some other 
object of affection ; but the epithet sanos appears to oppose this 
idea. As regards the force of conjugis here, consult note on verse 
18. — Nihil hie, nisi carmina desunt. " Nothing is wanting here but 
incantations," t. e., all the magic preparations are now made, and 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 193 

nothing is wanting hut the words that are to be sung by the sor- 
ceress, and that form the magic charm, or formula. 

69-71. Ducitc ab urbe domain, &c. An intercalary verse. (Con- 
sult note on verse 21.) It is here employed to introduce each time 
a new charm or incantation. — Carmina vcl ccelo, &c. In this para- 
graph are enumerated the various powers of these superstitious 
verses or charms. — Circe. A celebrated enchantress, who turned 
the companions of Ulysses into swine. — Ulixi. Old form of the 
genitive. The old form of the nominative was Ulixeus (from the 
Greek 'Odvccevc), the genitive of which was Ulixe'i, contracted into 
Ulixti, whence by a slight change came Ulixi. — Cantando. For in- 
■ -•-'- — TSumvitur. " Is burst." (Consult Jahn, ad loc.) 

tibi hcEc primum, &c. " First I surround thee with 
:es of list, distinguished from each other by three 
cia are meant the list at the end of the web. Ob- 
e the sorceress utters these words, she binds the 
list around a small image of Daphnis, which she 

ids, and afterward carries around the altar. — Effigi- 

em. " Thy image." — Numcro dcus impare, &c. " The deity delights 
in an uneven number." The number three was held sacred, and 
played an important part in sacred rites. 

77-81. Nectc tribus nodis, &e. "Tie three colours with three 
knots," i. e., tie three threads or strings of different colours. — 
Amarylli. Amaryllis is the name of her attendant. — Limus ut hie 
durescit, &c. " As this clay hardens, and as this wax melts," &c. 
The sorceress has two images of Daphnis, one of clay, and the 
other of wax, both of which are placed in the same fire on the al- 
tar. The one of course hardens, the other melts ; and in the same 
way Daphnis is to become firm in his attachment to her, and yet, at 
the same time, to melt with love. 

82-83. Sparge molam, &c. " Sprinkle the salted meal, and burn 
with bitumen the crackling bays." The sorceress now enters on a 
new charm. The salted meal is sprinkled upon the image or im- 
ages of Daphnis, and branches of bay, smeared with bitumen, are 
burned. The mola salsa, as it was called, consisted of roasted bar- 
ley meal mixed with salt. This was sprinkled upon the head of 
the victim before it was killed ; and in the present instance is sprink- 
led on the image of Daphnis, the victim of the magic sacrifice which 
is now going on. The bays were burned, also, in order to consume 
the flesh of the person on whose account these rites were perform- 
ed ; and the bitumen was added to make a fiercer flame. — Lauros. 
With regard to the ancient laurus, consult note on Eclog. ii., 54. 

R 



194 NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 

In Daphnide. " On Daphnis," i. e., on the image of Daphnis. 
(Voss, ad loc. Compare Theocritus, Id., ii., 23 : kycj 6' km A£2.<pidi 
dd<j)vav Aida.) 

85-90. Daphnin. Supply teneat, which is expressed in verse 89. 
— Qualis. "As is that." Supply is est. — Propter aqua rivum. "By 
some stream of water." — UlvL " Sedge." Some editions have 
herba, but, as Martyn remarks, uha seems a much more proper word 
in this place ; for the heifer is represented as weary of her pursuit, 
and lying out obstinately in the fields. To have made her rest on 
the green grass, would have been rather a pleasing image, contrary 
to what was here evidently intended ; but it agrees very well 
the design of this description, to suppose her lying down or 
coarse sedge, in a marshy place, by the side of a slow rivulet. 
Perdita. " Distracted." Heyne thinks it doubtful whethe 
belongs to what goes before or comes after. No such doubt 
ever, ought to exist, as the term is evidently an addition t 
precedes, and is to be inclosed within commas, according to 
principle of punctuation. — Sera nocti. An elegant expression. As 
if ordered by the shades of night to depart. The reading serd nocte 
is far inferior. 

91-93. Has exuvias. "These articles once worn by him." Ex- 
uvia is here a general term for any article worn on the person, 
whether of clothing or ornament. The sorceress proceeds to a new 
species of incantation, the burying of these exuviae of Daphnis under 
the threshold, to make him return to her. As regards the term ex- 
uvia, consult note on Mn., iv., 495. — Debent hcec pignora Daphnin. 
" These pledges owe me Daphnis." She expects, as a natural con- 
sequence of her burying these pledges, that they will cause Daphnis 
to return. The exuvia, therefore, in this sense, are bound to give 
her Daphnis. 

95-100. Has herbas, &c. She now proceeds to extol the power of 
the magical herbs and drugs which she has procured. — Hcec Ponto 
lecta venena. " These drugs gathered in Pontus." Pontus, strictly 
speaking, was a country of Asia Minor, bounded on the north by 
the Euxine, and on the east by Colchis. Here, however, it is taken 
in a more general sense for Colchis itself, a country famed in an- 
tiquity for its poisons and magic drugs, and the native region of 
Medea, the celebrated sorceress. — Plurima. " Very many such." 
— Lupum fieri. Compare the loup-garu of modern sorcery. — Satas 
messes. " The sown crops," i. e., the grain sown for future harvests. 
101-104. Fer cineres, &c. "Carry the ashes forth, Amaryllis, 
and throw them into the running stream, and over thy head ; nor 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE VIII. 195 

look behind thee (while so doing)." The sorceress, not having had 
success in her previous incantations, now proceeds to her most 
powerful charm. The ashes here meant are those of the vervain, 
frankincense, bays, &c, that have been burned on the altar. The 
attendant is to turn her back while she throws these into the river, 
and she is to throw them, moreover, over her head. Servius says, 
that the ashes were thrown in this manner, in order that the gods 
might receive them without showing themselves, which last they 
only did on very special occasions, " ex nimid necessitate.'''' 

Aggrediar. "Will I assail," i. e., strive to conquer him to my 
love. — Nihil Me deos, &c. The gods here meant are those accus- 
tomed to be invoked in magic rites. The sorceress seems, by the 
language here employed, to mean that hitherto there has not ap- 
peared any sign of good success in her incantations, and that she 
now depends more upon this scattering of the ashes than upon any- 
thing that has thus far been done. 

105-109. Aspice, &c. The exclamation of the sorceress herself, 
who proceeds to aid Amaryllis in removing tho ashes from the al- 
tar, but, before this can be effected, a flame breaks forth from the 
ashes that have just begun to be disturbed. — Ferre. "To carry 
them away." — Bonum sit I " May it be a portent of good !" — Nescio 
quid certe est. " 'Tis certainly something or other," i. e., it is cer- 
tainly an omen of something or other having happened, though, 
whether for good or evil, 1 know not. — Et Hylax. " Hylax too." 
The barking of the dog is a sign that he perceives his master com- 
ing home. — Ipsi sibi somnia jingunt. Compare Publius Syrus : 
"Amans quod suspicatur, vigilans somniat." — Parcite. " Spare him," 
i. e., Daphnis. She entreats the charms to cease from their pow- 
erful influence over Daphnis, who is now coming unto her from the 
city. With parcite, therefore, supply Mi. 



196 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 



ECLOGUE IX. 

Subject. 

This Eclogue gives more insight than any of the others into the 
circumstances of the early life of the poet. Virgil, after having 
been, for a short time, reinstated in his patrimony, was again dis- 
possessed by the violence of the centurion Arrius, and had himself 
nearly fallen a victim to the fury of that soldier. He, in the mean 
while, yielded to the force of circumstances, and took his departure 
for Rome, enjoining on the person who had charge of his farm to 
offer no resistance, and to comply with all the orders of Arrius, 
as if he had been his legitimate master. The scene of the Eclogue 
is laid during this period. Mceris, who represents the villicus, or 
grieve, but, according to Catrou, the father of Virgil, is introduced 
carrying his kids from the farm to Mantua, for behoof, it may be 
supposed, of the intrusive centurion. Lycidas, a neighbouring 
shepherd, who is fond of poetry, meets him on the way. Mceris 
complains of the distresses of the times, and recounts his own mis- 
fortunes, and those of his master, Menalcas, by whom our poet rep- 
resents himself. - This turns the subject to the poems of Menalcas, 
and eaeh rehearses, from memory, some fragments of his verses. 
These are altogether unconnected, and are almost literally trans- 
lated from Theocritus, but they are among the happiest of Virgil's 
imitations, and assemble together some of the loveliest objects of 
wild, unadorned nature. (Dunlop, Hist. Rom. Lit., vol. iii., p. 114.) 

According to Voss, this Eclogue was composed in the summer 
of A.U.C. 714, Virgil being then in his 30th year. 



1-6. Quo te Mozri, pedes 1 "Whither do thy feet lead thee, Mceris?" 
Supply ducunt, which may be easily implied from ducit, whTch fol- 
lows. It is more usual, however, to omit the verb in the second 
clause of the sentence, and express it in the first. — Urbem. Man- 
tua. — Lycida, vivi pervenimus, &c. " O Lycidas, we have lived 
to see the time, when a total stranger, as the possessor of our lit- 
tle farm, what we never apprehended, should say," &c. ; more lit- 
erally, " we have come alive to that pass, that a stranger," &c. 
Hence, pervenimus is equivalent here to pervenimus eo. — Advena. 
Consult Introductory Remarks. — Nostri. If Mceris be the villicus, 
or superintendent, the term nostri here will be employed like nostris, 
in Eclog., i., 8. — Quod nunquam, &c. Wagner prefers quo nun- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 197 

quam, &c, i. e., quo niunquam veriti sumus pervenire. — Coloni. " Cul- 
tivators of the soil," i. e., landholders. 

Victi. " Overcome," i. e., constrained to yield to the power of a 
lawless soldiery. Alluding to the veterans, unto whom the lands 
had been assigned. — Quoniam Fors omnia versat. " Since Fortune 
overturns all things." — Hos Mi, &c. "We are conveying these 
kids unto that man, and no good may the gift do him." The new 
possessor is supposed to reside at Mantua, and the kids are a part 
of the produce of his newly-acquired farm. — Quod nee vertat bene. 
We have here given the arrangement of Wagner, as far more mu- 
sical than the old reading, bene vertat, which gave the line a most 
intolerable rhythm, namely, Hos Mi \ quod nee bene vertat \ mittimus 
hcedos. Observe that quod nee vertat bene is an old form of impreca- 
tion, often occurring. — Mittimus. In the sense of ferimus, just as 
inferias mittere is the same as ferre inferias. 

7-10. Subduccre. "To decline," i. e., to terminate in the plain. 
We have here a description of Virgil's farm, which sloped down 
from the high grounds to the banks of the Mincius and the beech- 
trees planted there. (Compare Eclog., i., 52.) — Mollique jugum de- 
mittere clivo. "And to slope their brow with easy descent." — Jam 
fracta cacumina. "Now mere broken tops." The reference is to 
the effect of age, as clearly indicated by the particle jam. — Omnia. 
" All the grounds." — Menalcan. Virgil is supposed to mean him- 
self by Menalcas. (Consult Introductory Remarks.) 

11-16. Audierasl et fama fuit. " Hadst thou heard 1 and there 
was even a report (to this effect)." We have placed an interro- 
gation after audieras, with Wagner, as far more spirited than the 
common punctuation, which is a semicolon. — Chaonias columbas. 
" Chaonian pigeons," i. e., Dodonean pigeons. Dodona was a cele- 
brated city and oracle of Epirus, and as the Chaones were at one 
time the most powerful and warlike people of Epirus, and at an 
early period inhabited, among other places, Dodona, the epithet 
Chaonian becomes equivalent here to Dodonean. Now at Dodona, 
according to a legend alluded to by Herodotus, two black pigeons 
in early days gave oracular responses ; and hence Chaonian be- 
comes in the text an ornamental epithet, and " Chaonian pigeons" 
mean pigeons in general. 

Quod, nisi me, &c. " And had not a crow, on the left hand, pre- 
viously warned me, from a hollow holm-oak, to cut short the rising 
dispute in any way," i. e., on any terms. With quacumque supply 
ratione or via. As the Roman augur faced the south in taking au- 
spices, all omens on the left were lucky, coming as they did from 
R2 



198 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 

the east, where the heavenly motions originated ; unless other cir 
cumstances altered their character. In the present instance the 
omen becomes unlucky, because the note of the owl proceeds from 
a hollow or decayed tree. (Voss, ad loc.) Observe that, as the 
Grecian augur faced the north, omens on the right were regarded 
as lucky by that nation, because the right side faced the east ; the 
contrary being the case with the Romans. 

17-22. Cadit in quemquam, &c. "Does so great a crime enter 
into the mind of any one]" — Tua solatia. "Thy consolatory 
strains," i. e., thy strains so sweetly consoling to pastoral ears. 

Voss compares Eclog., v., 20 and 40. — Quis spargeret? in- 

duceret, &c. The idea intended to be conveyed is this : He can 
sing with so much truth and sweetness of these themes, as actually 
to seem to bring the objects themselves before the eyes of the hear- 
er. Compare Taubmann, ad loc. : " Canerct ed quidem arte, ut res 
ipsas ante oculos ponere videatur ■." 

Vel qua, sublegi, &c. " Or (sing those verses) which I on a late 
occasion, silently listening, gathered from thee not perceiving it." 
Compare the explanation of Heyne : " Quis caneret ea, quae nuper, 
te non scntiente, ex te didici ?" The ellipsis in the text is to be sup- 
plied as follows : vel quis caneret ea carmina, qua, &c. — Quum te ad 
delicias, &c. " When thou wast hieing to Amaryllis, the delight of 
all of us," i. e., of the whole neighbourhood, whom all, both old and 
young, admire. The speaker, it will be remembered, is somewhat 
advanced in years. (Compare verse 51.) 

23-25. Tityre, dum redeo, &c. He now gives a specimen of his 
friend's songs. In this Eclogue, Virgil takes occasion to introduce 
several little pieces as fragments of his other writings. This be- 
fore us is a translation of a passage in Theocritus (Id., iii., seqq.). 
— Dum. "Until." — Brevis est via. "The distance is short," i. e., 
I am only going a little way. — Inter agendum. "While driving 
them." — Occursare. " How you come in the way of." 

26-29. Immo hcec. "Nay, those rather." — Vare, tuum nomen, &c. 
Another short specimen. The idea intended to be conveyed by it is 
this : If Mantua shall only be saved from destruction, thy name, O 
Varus, shall be celebrated throughout all the Mantuan territory. Va- 
rus would appear from this to have exerted his authority in shield- 
ing, to some extent, others besides Virgil from the violence of the 
veterans of Augustus. — Superet modo Mantua nobis. " If Mantua 
only survive for us," i. c., if we Mantuans only escape the ruin 
which threatens us from these lawless new-comers. 

Mantua va misera, &c. Cremona had unfortunately espoused 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 11)9 

the cause of Brutus, and thus peculiarly incurred the vengeance of 
the victorious party. But as its territory was not found adequate 
to contain the veteran soldiers of the triumvirs, among whom it 
had been divided, the deficiency was supplied from the neighbour- 
ing district of Mantua. — Cantantes cycni. The swan was fabled to 
sing beautifully at the approach of death, and hence the name of 
Varus will be wafted by the music of the dying swans, as they soar 
away into upper air, even unto the stars. What serves to heighten 
the effect of the image, is the circumstance that the country near 
Mantua abounded in swans. (Compare Georg., ii., 199.) 

30-32. Sic tua Cyr?ieas, &c. A well-known form of expressing 
a conditional wish. " Begin (to sing), if thou hast aught (to im- 
part in song) ; so (i. e., and if thou comply with my request) may 
thy swarms avoid the yews of Corsica ;" literally, " the Cyrnean 
yews," Cyrnos (Kvpvoc) being the Greek name of Corsica. Accord- 
ing to Servius, the Island of Corsica abounded in yew-trees, and 
Cyrnean is here to be taken as a general name for the whole spe- 
cies, even when growing elsewhere, as in the present instance near 
Mantua. The yew-tree is injurious in honey-making, the honey 
made of it being bitter, and the Corsican honey in particular was 
allowed, by common consent, to be very bad of its kind. Virgil, 
as appears from the present passage, ascribes this to the yew-trees 
which grew there ; Ovid, on the other hand, makes it to have been 
owing to the hemlock. — Cytiso. Consult note on Eclog., i., 79. 

33-34. Pierides. Consult note on Eclog., iii., 85. — Vatem. "In- 
spired." Observe here the distinction between poeta andvatcs, the for- 
mer having reference merely to poetic skill ; whereas the latter has 
more or less of a religious idea connected with it, in addition to that 
of powers of song. (Dcederlein, Lat. Syn., vol. v., p. 101.) The ety- 
mology of vates is doubtful. Its un-Latin termination of-es for the 
masculine shows clearly that it is a word of foreign origin. It is 
to be deduced, most probably, from Qdrris, Doric for Qtjtijc. (compare 
7rpo-0^r^f), though, according to one of the ancient grammarians, 
its earlier form was vacius. (Aper, dcverb. dub. in Gramm. Lat., p. 
2250, ed. Putsch.) 

35-36. Vario. Varius and Cinna were two eminent contemporary 
poets, and Lycidas says that he cannot look upon himself as a really 
inspired poet, because he is not yet able to write such verses as are 
worthy of the two individuals just named. Varius had distinguished 
himself by various poetic efforts, but his chief title to fame rested on 
his tragedy of Thyestes, now lost, which Quintilian says (x.,i., 98) 
was worthy of being compared with any similar production among 



200 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 

the Greeks. He is eulogized by Horace (Od., i., 6). Cinna had 
written a poem entitled " Smyrna," which it had taken him nine 
whole years to polish and correct. (Compare Catull., xcv., and 
consult, in particular, the two dissertations of Weichert, " Be C. 
Helvio Cinna," Grimmae, 1822.) 

Sed argutos inter, &c. "But to scream like a goose among the 
tuneful swans." According to Servius, the poet has here a hit at 
a contemporary poet named Anser. He is followed in this by Spohn, 
Voss, and Weichert. 

37-38. Id quidem ago. " That very thing I am endeavouring to 
do," i. c, to begin some strain. The reference is to " incipe, si quid 
habes," in verse 32. — Neque. For non enim. 

39-43. Hue ades, O Galatea, &c. These five lines are an imita- 
tion of a passage in the 11th Idyl of Theocritus, where the Cyclops 
Polyphemus addresses the nymph Galatea. — Quis est nam ludus, 
&c. " For what pleasure is there in the waters." Galatea is a sea- 
nymph, and she is here invited to forsake the ocean for the greater 
pleasures of the land, the beauties of which are then described. — 
Hie ver purpureum. " Here reigns the purple spring." The term 
" purple" is here equivalent merely to " bright," and the spring is 
so called from the bright-hued flowers which it pours forth. The 
Roman poets often use the adjective purpureas in the sense of 
"bright," "sparkling," "beautiful," &c. (Consult Burmann, ad 
Anthol. Lat., vol. i., p. 267.) 

Candida populus. " The silver poplar :" called by the Greeks, tj 
AevKrj. — Umbracula. "A thick bower." Observe the force of the 
plural. — Feriant sine.' For sine utferiant. 

41^1 5. Quid, qua., &c. " (But) what were those verses which I 
heard thee singing by thyself at the calm eventide." The refer- 
ence is to clear calm weather, or, in other words, to a serene even- 
ing. (Compare Burmann, ad loc.) — Sub. The literal force of thit 
preposition here has reference to the shades of evening covering the 
earth. — Numeros. "The numbers," i. e., the rhythm or cadence, 
as marked off by the ictus. (Voss, ad loc.) 

jj\ 46-47. Daphni. Daphnis is here only a fictitious name of some 
pastoral acquaintance. — Quid antiquos, &c. He admonishes Daph- 
nis that there is no occasion for him to regard the old rules of ob- 
serving the heavens with respect to agriculture, because the new 
star of Caesar will be alone sufficient for the husbandmen. — Dionm 
processit Ccesaris astrum. " The star of Dionean Caesar has come 
forth," i. e., has come forth from Olympus to run its course in the 
heavens. Dione was one of the Nereids, and, according to Homer 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 201 

(J/.JL v., 370), the mother of Venus by Jupiter. Venus was the moth- 
er of ^Eneas, who was the father of Ascauius, or lulus, and from 
this last the Julian family claimed to be descended. Julius Caesar, 
therefore, being of this race, is here called " Dionean Caesar." The 
star alluded to in the text is the famous Julium sidus, so often re- 
ferred to by the Roman poets. A remarkable star, or, more cor- 
rectly speaking, comet, appeared for seven days together, after the 
death of Julius Caesar, which was regarded by the lower orders as 
a sign that his soul had been received into the heavens, the star 
having been the vehicle for transporting the same. Hence Au- 
gustus added a star to all the statues which he raised in com- 
memoration of the deification of his uncle, and hence, too, the star 
that appears so frequently on the medals of the Julian line. Haliey 
conjectured that the comet of 1680 was this same one, and that its 
period was 575 years. 

48-50. Quo segctes gaudcrent, &c. " By which the sown fields 
might rejoice with their crops, and by which the grape might ac- 
quire its (proper) hue on the sunny hills." The influence of this 
new star is to be highly favourable to agriculture, and its subse- 
quent risings are to portend rich harvests. Observe the employ- 
ment of the imperfect subjunctive here to denote a repeated ac- 
tion, what is to take place year after year, where in Greek the 
optative would be used. — Buceret. Equivalent to duceret in se, i. c, 
sensim acciperet. — Apricis in collibus. A sunny exposure is requi- 
site for the vine. — Insere. " Plant." Not " ingraft," because a 
tree, when ingrafted, produces fruit very soon ; whereas a slow 
production is here meant. 

51-54. Fert. " Bears away with it," i. e., consumes or destroys. 
— Animum quoque. " Even the memory itself." We must sup- 
pose that Mceris stops with his song at the end of line 50, from a 
failure of memory, and cannot complete what he had begun ; he re- 
marks, therefore, with a sigh, that old age is beginning to steal upon 
him. — Puerum. "When a boy." — Longos condere soles. "Spent 
long summer days ;" more literally, " closed long suns," i. e., saw 
long suns sink to rest. — Oblita mihi. " Are forgotten by me." Ob- 
serve the Hellenism in mihi for a me, and also the passive usage of 
oblitus, the participle of a deponent verb. (Ruddimann, Inst., vol. 
i., p. 289, ed. Stallb.) 

Lupi Mozrin videre priores. " The wolves have seen Mceris first," 
i. &., before he has seen them, and this is the reason why he has 
lost his voice. This expression alludes to a notion which prevailed 
among the ancient Italians, that if a wolf saw any man first, it de- 



202 NOTES ON ECLOGUE IX. 

prived him of his voice for the time. If, on the other hand, the 
man saw the wolf first, the wolf became mute for the instant. Ser- 
vius informs us, that from this is derived the proverbial expression 
lupus in f alula, which is used when a person appears of whom the 
company have been talking, and who thereby cuts off the discourse. 
In Theocritus (Id., xiv., 22), a person who remains silent is said 
to have seen a wolf Qmkov eldec) ; but there is evidently some error 
here in the text, and we must read, with Schaeffer, Avkoc eide a', "a 
wolf has seen thee." 

Satis referet tibi. "Will repeat to thee often enough." 
56-62. Caussando nostros, &c. " By making these excuses, 
thou puttest off for a long time our gratification (in hearing thee)." 
Lycidas looks upon this loss of memory as a mere pretence, and 
therefore presses Mceris to go on. He urges the stillness of the 
evening, and their having gone half their journey already, as argu- 
ments for sitting down a little, and adds that they shall reach the 
city in good time. But if Mceris is afraid the night should prove 
rainy, he tells him they may sing as they go along, and offers to 
relieve him of his load. Moeris persists in not singing any more, 
and exhorts him to wait with patience for the return of Menalcas. 
Omne stratum silet cequor. " The whole lake lies smooth and 
still." Referring to the lake into which the Mincius spreads near 
Mantua. — Omnes ventosi, &c. " Every breath of murmuring wind 
is lulled." — Hinc adeo media, &c. " From this point, too, our jour- 
ney is equally divided," i. e., we have now accomplished one half 
of our route. — Bianoris. Bianor, otherwise called Ocnus, son of 
the river-god Tiber, and of Manto, the daughter of Tiresias, is said 
to have founded Mantua, and to have called it after his mother. — 
Densas stringunt frondes. "Are stripping off the thick leaves." 
This was done in order to promote the growth of the vine, which 
the thick foliage of the trees around which they twined would oth- 
erwise have retarded. — Tamen. "Notwithstanding." 

63-67. Pluviam colligat ante. " Bring on rain before (we get 
there)." — Cantantes licet, &c. "We can pursue our route, singing 
all the while ; the way is (thus) less tedious." Heyne reads Icedat, 
but the sense evidently requires the indicative. — Ut eamus. "In 
order that we may (so) pursue it." — Hoc fasce. " Of this burden." 
Referring to the kids which he was carrying. — Plura. Supply diccre. 
Et, quod nunc instat, &c. " And let us attend to that which now 
is pressing," i. e., which demands my immediate care. He alludes 
to the conveying of the kids to the new possessor of the farm. — 
Ipse. Menalcas. 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 203 



ECLOGUE X. 

Subject. 

Cornelius Gallus, the celebrated elegiac poet, was enamoured 
of a female called Lycoris, who, under the name of Cytheris, had 
been beloved by Marc Antony and Brutus. It was for her that 
Gallus had composed his elegies ; but she had now forsaken him 
to follow a more favoured suitor, who was at this time employed 
on a military expedition beyond the Alps. Gallus, who was then 
in early youth, felt deeply affected by her loss. Virgil accordingly 
introduces him in this Eclogue as a shepherd, who, reclining under 
a solitary rock in Arcadia, bewails the inconstancy of his mistress. 
The poet describes the swains of Arcadia, the rural deities, and 
even Apollo himself, as coming to Gallus, and attempting, though 
vainly, to console him in his affliction. In his address to the shep- 
herds, he wishes that his lot had been humble like theirs ; and then, 
in his pathetic expostulations with his mistress, he presents a stri- 
king picture of the sufferings to which his unhappy passion had ex- 
posed him. The various resolutions of a desponding lover are suc- 
cessively described, and are such as disappointed passion naturally 
produces — wild, tender, and inconstant. He first thinks of renewing 
his poetical studies ; then suddenly determines to quit the world, 
and seek out some melancholy retirement, where he may conceal 
himself among the dens of wild animals, and console himself with 
carving the name of Lycoris on the trees. He next breaks into a 
resolution of employing himself in the pleasures of the chase ; but 
at length recollects, with a sigh, that none of these amusements 
will cure his passion. The plan of the Eclogue is a little fantas- 
tical, but it is written with much sweetness, and we find in it some 
of the most musical and touching verses that have flowed from 
Virgil. Dunlop, Hist. Rom. Lit., vol. iii., p. 120, seq. 

According to Voss, this Eclogue was composed in the spring of 
A.U.C. 717, Virgil being then in his 33d year. 



1-2. Extremum hunc, Arelhusa, &c. " Concede, O Arethusa, this 
last effort unto me," i. e., grant that this last effort of mine may be a 
successful one. Favour this my last attempt. (Compare the expla- 
nation of Wunderlich : " Permitte ut in extremo hoc argumento elaborem, 
atque in eo me adjuves.' n ) Voss supposes that Virgil was now begin- 
ning to bend his energies upon the poem of the Georgics, and that 



204 NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 

he gave to the world in this year (A.U.C. 717) a selection from his 
previous pastoral productions, under the title of Eclogce, or " Ec- 
logues," of which the present one was the last. — Arethusa. Instead 
of invoking the Muses, the poet addresses a Sicilian nymph, Are- 
thusa, who presided over a fountain of the same name, in the island 
of Ortygia, off the coast of Sicily, and lying near and forming part 
of Syracuse. The propriety of this is shown by the circumstance 
of the present Eclogue being an imitation, in a great degree, of 
the first Idyll of Theocritus, a Sicilian poet. 

Pauca meo Gallo, &c. " (Concede) a few things (unto me) for 
my Gallus, but which Lycoris herself may read. (Yes), songs are 
to be sung ; who will refuse songs to Gallus V i. e., who will refuse 
to tell of him in song? We have adopted in this passage the punc- 
tuation recommended by Wagner {Eleg. ad Messal, p. 68), and fol- 
lowed by him in his edition of Virgil. The old pointing has a period 
after laborem, and a comma after Lycoris, so that, according to it, 
the meaning will be, " a few strains are to be sung for my Gallus," 
&c. This, however, is extremely awkward, and gives the Eclogue 
a double exordium in the first and second lines. 

Legat ipsa Lycoris. That she may blush, namely, for her perfidy 
and fickleness, and grieve at having abandoned one so constant and 
true. 

4-5. Sic tibi, &c. " So may bitter Doris not intermingle her 
waters with thee, when thou shalt glide beneath the Sicilian 
waves." As regards the force of sic here, consult note on Eclog., 
ix., 30. — Doris amara, &c. Doris, the daughter of Oceanus and 
Tethys, is here taken for the sea, and the legend alluded to by the 
poet is as follows : The god of the Alpheus, a river of Elis, became 
enamoured of the nymph Arethusa, who, flying from his pursuit, 
was turned by Diana, out of compassion, into a fountain. She 
made her escape under the sea to Ortygia, an island adjacent to 
Sicily, where she rose up ; but the Alpheus pursued her by the same 
route, and mingled his waters with hers at the fountain-head in the 
island just named. The poet here wishes that, in her passage un- 
der the sea, the briny waves of the latter may not intermingle with 
her pure and crystal waters. 

6-8. Sollicitos amores. "The anxious love," i. c, making his 
bosom the abode of anxiety and care. — Si ma capella. " The snub- 
nosed kids." (Compare Theocritus, cn/nal ept<poi.) — Non canimus 
surdis, &C? Even if Lycoris will not listen, yet the song will be re- 
peated by echo in the woods. — Respondent. " Re-echo." 

9-12. Qua nemora, &c. Imitated from Theocritus (i., 66). — Na- 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 205 

ides. From the Greek Naidec. The reading Naiades mars the me- 
tre, since it is a quadrisyllable, from the Greek Naiddec. — Indigno 
amore. " By a love that he ill deserved," i. e., he was worthy of a 
better and more fortunate passion. — Peribat. The indicative seems 
here required by the sense, and is far superior to the common read- 
ing periret. 

Parnassi. (Consult note on Eclog., vi., 29.)— Pindi. Pindus, like 
Parnassus, was sacred to the Muses. The name was applied to a 
mountain range separating Thessaly from Epirus. As the Nai'des 
were fountain- nymphs, and are here mentioned in connexion with 
Parnassus and Pindus, the poet would seem to refer to the fount- 
ains and streams of these two mountain ranges. Voss thinks that 
the Muses themselves are meant. — Aonie Aganippe. " The Aonian 
Aganippe," i. e., the Boeotian fountain of Aganippe. This was a 
celebrated fountain of Bceotia on Mount Helicon, sacred to the 
Muses. The epithet Aonian has reference to the Aones, the ear- 
lier inhabitants of Bceotia. We have given Aonie Aganippe with 
Heyne, as in closer accordance with the Greek form ('Aovin 'Aya- 
vcnTrn) than the common reading Aonia Aganippe, or that of many 
editions, Aonia Aganippce. 

13-15. Ilium etiam lauri, &c. A strong expression, as Martyn 
remarks, of the poet's astonishment at the neglect which the nymphs 
showed of the distress of Gallus. He insinuates his surprise that 
the nymphs, who inhabited the hills and fountains sacred to Apollo 
and the Muses, should slight so excellent a poet, when even the 
woods and rocky mountains lamented his misfortunes. — Pinifer 
Mcenalus. The scene now changes to Arcadia, and the remainder 
of the Eclogue is adapted to Arcadian habits and customs. Maen- 
alus, as already remarked (note to Eclog., viii., 22), was a mount- 
ain range in the southeastern part of Arcadia, sacred to the god 
Pan. — Lyccei. Lycaeus was a mountain range in the southwestern 
angle of Arcadia, sacred to Pan, who had a temple on it, surround- 
ed by a thick grove. On the summit was an altar to Jupiter, that 
deity having been born there, according to an Arcadian legend. 
The presence of Gallus in Arcadia, however, must be regarded as 
a mere poetic fiction. (Consult Introductory Remarks.) 

16-18. Nostri nee poenitet illas, &c. " Neither does it shame them 
of us, nor, divine poet, let it shame thee of the flock ; even the 
beautiful Adonis fed sheep by the river's side." More freely, 
" neither are they ashamed to share our griefs," &c. The mean- 
ing, according to Burmann, is simply this : the sheep are contented 
with us as their shepherds, they are pleased with our strains, and 

S 



206 NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 

mw, too, they disdain not to share our sorrows. Do not thou, 
therefore, regard the care of these as at all unworthy of thee, nor 
complain that I have here represented thee, my Gallus, under the 
character of a shepherd. Even the beautiful Adonis, the loved one 
of Venus, disdained not a shepherd's office. Observe that paznilere 
is here employed of things that we contemn, as in Cicero {Acad., iv., 
22), " Quid eum Musarchi pcenitebat ?" — The critics have found fault 
with the position of the lines that have just been explained. Sca- 
liger thinks that they ought to be placed after verse 8 (Poet., v., 5) ; 
and they are also objected to on the same ground by Heyne, Eich- 
stadt {Qucest. Philolog.), and Schiitz {Jen. Lit., Anz., 1791, ch. 220, 
p. 332), the last of whom thinks that something has fallen out of 
the text after the words " Stant et oves circum," which some gram- 
marian has attempted unskilfully to supply. The explanation, how- 
ever, which we have given appears to remove every difficulty. 

19-20. Upilio. " The shepherd." Another form for opilw. From 
an early Greek form, OHIOAIflN, from 0HI0A.02 (compare al-Ko- 
?iog), and for which, in the Hymn to Mercury (314), we find the form 
oIkoIoc, which is less in accordance with analogy. {Dozderlein, hat. 
Sy?i., vol. vi., p. 247.) — Bubulci. We have allowed this reading to 
stand, with Heyne and most other editors. Wagner, however, con- 
tends strenuously for subulci, " swine-herds," which he even admits 
into the text. But the epithet tardi suits better the habits of the 
bubulci, in consequence of the slow movements of the cattle whom 
they tend. — Uvidus hibernd, &c. " Menalcas came all wet from the 
winter mast." Menalcas is here a swine-herd, or subulcus, and his 
garments are wet with the morning dew from the leaves of the 
forest, whither he has been to feed his swine on the mast that has 
been lying uncollected on the ground during the winter season, 
which has just passed away ; for that spring now prevails is plain- 
ly shown from the flowers that adorn the head of Silvanus (v. 25). 

21-23. Unde amor iste tibi. " Whence (comes) this thy passion 
unto thee ?" i. e., what maiden has inspired thee with this passion 1 
Observe the force of iste. (Compare Theocritus, i., 78, tlvoc, 6 
'■yade, toogov epaooai ;) — Tua cura. " The object of thy anxious 
care;" more literally, "thy care," i. e., solicitude. — Perque nivcs, 
&c. (Consult Introductory Remarks.) Hence it appears that this 
Eclogue was written at a season when all things in Italy were 
decked with the garb of spring, while in the Alpine regions the 
snow still covered the ground. 

24-25. Agresii capitis honore. " With rural honour of head," i. c., 
crowned with rural honours. — Silvanus. An Italian deity, God of 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 207 

the Woods and Fields. — Florentes ferulas, &c. " Shaking his flow- 
ering ferulas and large lilies." He wore, according to the poet, a 
crown on this occasion, of the leaves and flowers of the ferula and 
the lily, which shook as he moved along. The ferula of the an- 
cients is our fennel- giant, a large plant growing to the height of six 
or eight feet, with leaves cut into small segments, like those of 
fennel, but longer. The flowers are yellow, and grow in large um- 
bels. The stalk is thick and full of fungous pith, which was used 
by the ancients as a kind of tinder. The Greeks termed the ferula 
vdpd?^, and, according to the old classical legend, Prometheus, 
when he stole the fire from the skies, brought it to earth in the 
hollow of this plant. Fee thinks that the ferula of Virgil ought 
rather to be identified with the Ferula Oricnlalis of Tournefort, 
which that traveller met with very frequently in Greece. 

26-27. Ipsi The poet here refers to Gallus and himself. They 
both beheld the glowing visage of the god, and both heard his 
words. — Sanguineis ebuli baccis, &c. " Glowing with the blood-red 
berries of the dwarf-elder and with cinnabar." The ebulus, dwarf 
elder, wall-wort, or dane-wort, is a sort of elder, and very like the 
common elder-tree, but differs from it essentially in being really an 
herb. It commonly grows to about the height of a yard. The 
juice of the berries is of a red purple colour. It has obtained the 
name of dane-wort, because it is fabled to have sprung from the 
blood of the Danes, when that people were massacred in England. 
The Greek name is ^a/zaiu/cr??. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

Minioque rubentem. The images of the rural deities were often 
coloured red by the Romans. (Compare Ovid, Fast., i., 415; Id. 
ib.. vi., 333, &c.) — Minium is the native cinnabar, according to Mar- 
tyn and others, or the ore out of which the quicksilver is drawn. 
Minium is now commonly used, says Martyn, to designate red-lead ; 
but we learn from Pliny that the minium of the Romans was the 
viiltos, or cinnabari, of the Greeks. Adams thinks that the ancients 
had three kinds of cinnabar : 1. The vegetable cinnabar, or sanguis 
draconis, being the resin of the tree called Dracczna Draco ; 2. The 
native cinnabar, or sulphuret of quicksilver ; and, 3. The sil Atti- 
cum, or factitious cinnabar, which was very different from ours, 
being a preparation of a shining arenaceous substance. {Adams, 
Appendix of Scientific Terms, &c, s. v.) 

28-32. Modus. Supply lamentationibus tuis, or something equiv- 
alent. — Amor. The God of Love is here meant. — Cytiso. Consult 
note on Eclog., i., 79. — Tristis at Me. Gallus, receiving no con- 
solation from the gods, as the particle at indicates, now turns his 
discourse to the Arcadian shepherds ; expresses his desire of being 



208 NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 

recorded by them, and wishes that he himself had been in no higher 
station than they. — Tamen cantabitis, &c. " You, however, ye Ar- 
cadians, will sing of these things on your mountains," &c. Observe 
the force of tamen here : " though Love cares not for my sad fate, 
you, however, O Arcadian shepherds," &c. The idea intended to 
be conveyed is this i much will it contribute to lessen my grief, if 
you, ye Arcadian shepherds, shall sing of this my unhappy fate, and 
make my ill-requited love the subject of your strains for the time 
to come. 

33-40. Quiescant. Some MSS. have quiescent ; less correctly, how- 
ever, it being uncertain whether the Arcadians will grant his re- 
quest. — Vestrique gregis. "Of one of your flocks." — Quicumque. 
Supply alius. — Furor. " An object of ardent attachment." — Sifuscus 
Amyntas. " Even though Amyntas be dark of hue." Supply sit. — 
Vaccinia. Compare Eclog., ii., 18. — Salices. The reference here 
is to willows along which vines are trained. (Compare Eclog., iii., 
65.) This custom appears to have been followed in some districts 
of Cisalpine Gaul, where other trees would not grow. It certainly 
does not suit, however, a mountainous region like Arcadia. 

Serta. " Garland-flowers." Garlands are here taken for the 
flowers that are to compose them. — Hie gelidi f antes, &c. Gallus 
now tells Lycoris, in the most passionate manner, how happy they 
might both have been in the quiet enjoyment of rural life ; whereas 
her cruelty has driven him into the perils of warfare, and has ex- 
posed herself to unnecessary fatigues. 

44-48. Duri me, &c. Heyne reads te without any MS. author- 
ity, thinking it absurd that Gallus should be represented, at one and 
the same time, as a shepherd in Arcadia, and a soldier in the midst 
of arms. But the poet mixes up all things in the present Eclogue, 
blending together Italian, Arcadian, and Sicilian affairs ; he intro- 
duces, moreover, Silvanus, an Italian divinity, along with Pan, an 
Arcadian one ; he makes, too, a Sicilian shepherd talk of traversing 
Mount Maenalus {v. 55), &c., 60 that the license in the present case 
is a very venial one. The reading me is, therefore, no doubt the 
true one, and is given by Voss, Wunderlich, Jahn, and Wagner. 

Nee sit mihi credere tantum ! "Nor be it for me to believe so 
monstrous a thing," i. e., O that I could believe so cruel an act un- 
true, an act that indicates such utter inconstancy. Tantum is here 
equivalent to tantam, tarn atrocem rem. Some editors make the pa- 
renthesis end at credere, and connect tantum as an adverb, " only,"' 
"naught but," with vides. — Nives, et frigora Rheni. Compare In- 
troductory Remarks — Me sine. By anastrophe, for sine me. 
• 50-54. Chalcidico versa. " In Chalcidian verse." The allusion 



NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 209 

is to Euphorion, a Greek poet of Chalcis, in the island of Euboea, 
born B.C. 274. He was greatly admired by many of the Romans, 
and some of his poems were imitated or translated by Gallus. — 
Pastoris Siculi modulabor avend. " I will set to music on the pipe of 
the Sicilian shepherd." (Consult note on Eclog., v., .14.) The al- 
lusion is to Theocritus, the Sicilian poet, and author of pastorals. 
The meaning appears to be, that Gallus took the subject of his pas- 
torals from Euphorion, and that he copied more or less the manner 
of Theocritus. 

Cerium est malle pati. " I am resolved to prefer enduring my 
passion." Supply amores after pati. — Spelcea. From the Greek 
o~f/?Mia. Virgil is followed, in using this form, by the author of the 
Ciris (u. 466), by Claudian (Bell. Get., 354), and others. 

55-61. I.-iterca mixtis, &c. "Meanwhile I will roam over all 
Maenalus in company with the nymphs." He now, with all the wild 
fervour of a mind unsettled by passion, passes to the subject of 
hunting. — Mixtis Nymphis. For the more usual form of expression, 
"permixtus Nymphis." — Mcenala. Consult note on Eclog., viii., 22. 
— Acres apros. " The fierce wild boars." — Parthenios saltus. Par- 
thenius was a mountain of Arcadia, forming the limit between this 
country and the Argolic territories. It still retains the name of 
Partheni. 

Lucosque sonantes. " And resounding groves." Referring either 
to the barking of the hounds, or the noise of the wind amid the 
branches of the trees. The latter is more in accordance with the 
usage of the poets. — Libel Partho torquere, &c. " It delights me to 
discharge Cydonian shafts from a Parthian bow." The Cretans . 
and Parthians were both famed for their skill in archery. A Cretan 
arrow and Parthian bow, therefore, are here employed to denote an 
arrow and bow the best of their kind. — Cydonia. Cydonia was one 
of the most ancient cities in the island of Crete, and stood on the 
northern coast of the northwestern part of the island. It was the 
most powerful and wealthy of the Cretan cities, and hence " Cy- 
donian" is equivalent to "Cretan." — Sit. The common editions 
have sint, which is erroneous. The reference is to the use of the 
bow, not to the bow and arrows themselves. — Bens Me. The God 
of Love. 

62-63. Jam neque Hamadryades, &e. Gallus having amused him- 
self with the thought of diverting his passion, and then reflected 
on the insufficiency of those pastimes, declares that he will now 
give up all expectation of being delighted by the charms either of 
the country or of poetry. — Hamadryades. The Hamadryads are 

S2 



210 NOTES ON ECLOGUE X. 

those Nymphs which belong to particular trees, and are bom and 
perish along with them. The name is derived from a/aa, " together 
with," and dpvc, "a tree." (Compare note on Eclog., ii., 6.) — Con- 
cedite. " Fare ye well." Equivalent here to valete. 

64-69. Ilium. Referring again to the God of Love. — Nostri la- 
bores. " Our labours." Referring to the toils of the hunt, which 
he finds to be all in vain, and that love cannot be rooted out by 
means of these. — Nee, sifrigoribus mediis, &c. " Neither if we both 
drink of the Hebrus in the midst of the frosts, and endure the 
Sithonian snows of humid winter." The Hebrus was a large river 
of Thrace, rising, according to Thucydides (ii., 96), in Mount Sco- 
mius ; but, according to Pliny (iv., 11), in Mount Rhodope. It falls 
into the ^Egean, and is now the Maritza. — Sithoniasque nives. The 
Sithones were a people of Thrace, a cold and snowy country, so 
that " Sithonian" is here taken for "Thracian." Sithonia was the 
central one of the three promontories which lay at the southern 
extremity of Chalcidice, in what was afterward a part of Macedonia. 

Quum moriens altd, &c. " When the dying bark withers on the 
lofty elm." Observe that liber, properly the inner part of the bark, is 
here taken for the bark generally. — Versemus. " We tend ;" more 
literally, " we drive to and fro," i. e., from pasture to pasture. — 
Sub sidere Cancri. " Beneath the constellation of Cancer," i. e., 
far to the south, and in the torrid zone. — Omnia vincit amor, &c. 
Heyne thinks the connection here somewhat harsh. Not so. The 
line is meant to express the return to a sounder mind. Love con- 
quers all things ; and, since love conquers all things, come, let us 
too yield, nor wish to conquer him. 

70-74. H<zc sat erit, &c. We are now come to the conclusion of 
the piece, where the poet, who personates a goatherd (v. 7), tells the 
Muses that he has performed enough in this humble way of writing. 
He entreats the Muses to add dignity to his lowly verse, that it may 
become worthy of Gallus, for whom his affection is continually in- 
creasing ; and at last desires his goats to go home, because they 
have fed enough, and the evening approaches. 

Fiscellam. A basket for holding cheese or pressed milk. (Com- 
pare TibulL, ii., 3, 15.) — Hibisco. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 30, 
74. — Maxima. " Of the greatest interest," i. e., most acceptable. 
— Cujus amor. " The love for whom." 

75-77. Gravis. " Hurtful," i. e., bringing on rheumatic affec- 
tions, when the limbs have been relaxed by heat. — Juniperi gravis 
umbra. Alluding to the noxious exhalations which proceed from 
the Juniper-tree during the night. — Saturn. "Ye well-fed." — 
Hesperus. Consult note on Eclog., viii., 30. 






NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. 



NOTES 

ON 

THE GEORGICS. 



I. The term Georgua is of Greek origin, coming from Teupytud, 
and means, properly, " things appertaining to tillage or agricul- 
ture." 

II. The Greek word yeupyud is the nominative plural neuter of 
the adjective yeupyinoe, which is itself a derivative from yeupyog, 
" a husbandman," and this last is compounded of yia (the resolved 
form of yij), " earth," and hpyov, "work," or "labour." 

III. The genitive plural of Georgica will be Georgicbn, from the 
Greek form yeupyLnuv. Some editions give the Latin form Georgi- 
corum in the running titles to the different books of the poem ; but 
the Greek mode of expression is preferable. 

IV. " The poem of Virgil, entitled the ' Georgics? is as remark- 
able for majesty and magnificence of diction as the Eclogues are 
for sweetness and harmony of versification. It is the most com- 
plete, elaborate, and finished poem in the Latin, or, perhaps, any 
other language ; and though the choice of subject, and the situa- 
tions, afforded less expectation of success than the pastorals, so 
much has been achieved by art and genius, that the author has 
chiefly exhibited himself as a poet on topics where it was difficult to 
appear as such. 

V. " Rome, from its peculiar situation, was not well adapted for 
commerce ; and from the time of Romulus to that of Caesar, agri- 
culture had been the chief care of the Romans. Its operations 
were conducted by the greatest statesmen, and its precepts incul- 
cated by the profoundest scholars. The long continuance, how- 
ever, and cruel ravages of the civil wars, had now occasioned an 
almost general desolation. Italy was, in a great measure, depop- 
ulated of its husbandmen. The soldiers, by whom the lands were 
newly acquired, had too long ravaged the fields to think of cultiva- 
ting them ; and, in consequence of the farms lying waste, a famine 
and insurrection had nearly ensued. 

VI. " In these circumstances, Maecenas resolved, if possible, to 
revive the decayed spirit of agriculture, to recall the lost habits of 
peaceful industry, and to make rural improvement, as it had been in 
former times, the prevailing amusement among the great ; and he 



214 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. 

wisely judged that no method was so likely to contribute to these 
important objects as a recommendation of agriculture by all the in- 
sinuating charms of poetry. At his suggestion, accordingly, Virgil 
commenced his Georgics, which poem was thus, in some degree, 
undertaken from a political motive, and with a view to promote the 
welfare of his country ; and as, in the Eclogue which announces 
the return of the Golden Age, he strives to render his woods wor- 
thy of a consul, so in his Georgics he studied to make his fields 
deserving of Maecenas and Augustus. 

VII. " But, though written with a patriotic object, by order of a 
Roman statesman, and on a subject peculiarly Roman, the imita- 
tive spirit of Latin poetry still prevailed, and the author could not 
avoid recurring, even in his Georgics, to a Grecian model. A few 
verses on the signs and prognostics of the weather have been trans- 
lated from the Phenomena of Aratus ; but the Works and Days of 
Hesiod is the pattern which he has chiefly held in view. In refer- 
ence to his imitation of this model, he himself styles his Georgics 
an Ascraan poem ; and he appears, indeed, to have been a sincere 
admirer of the ancient bard. 

VIII. " In the Works and Days, Hesiod, after a description of the 
successive ages of the world, points out the various means for pro- 
curing an honest livelihood. Of these, the proper exercise of agri- 
culture is one of the principal. He accordingly gives directions for 
the labours of the field, and enumerates those days on which the 
various operations of husbandry ought to be performed. It is chief- 
ly, then, in the first and second books of the Georgics (where Virgil 
discourses of tillage and planting) that he has imitated the Works 
and Days. Hesiod has not treated of the breeding of cattle, or 
care of bees, which form the subjects of the third and fourth books 
of the Roman poet ; but in the former books he has copied his 
predecessor in some of the most minute precepts of agriculture, as 
well as in his injunctions with regard to the superstitious observ- 
ance of days. 

IX. "Virgil's arrangement of his topics is at once the most 
natural, and that which best carries his reader along with him. He 
begins with the preparation of the inert mass of earth, and the 
sowing of grain, which form the most intractable parts of his sub- 
ject. Then he discloses to our view a more open prospect and wi- 
der horizon, leading us among the rich and diversified scenes of 
nature, the shades of vineyards, and blossoms of orchards. He 
next presents us with pictures of joyous and animated existence. 
The useful herds, the courageous horse, the Nomades of Africa 
and Scythia pass before us, and the fancy is excited by images of 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. 215 

the whole moving creation. He at length concludes with those 
insects which have formed themselves into a well-ordered commu- 
nity, and which, in their nature, laws, and government, seem most 
nearly to approach the human species. 

X. " Many of Virgil's rules, particularly those concerning the 
care of cattle, have been taken from the works of the ancient agri- 
cultural writers of his own country. Seneca, indeed, talks lightly 
of the accuracy and value of his precepts ; but Columella speaks of 
him as an agricultural oracle ; and all modern travellers, who have 
had occasion to examine the mode of agriculture even at this day 
practised in Italy, bear testimony to his exactness in the minutest 
particulars. His precepts of the most sordid and trivial descrip- 
tion are delivered with dignity, and the most common observations 
have recei/ed novelty or importance by poetic embellishment. 
This talent of expressing with elegance what is trifling, and in it- 
self little attractive, is one of the most difficult arts of poetry, and 
no poet ever knew better than Virgil ■ Angustis nunc addere rebus 
honor em.'' 

XI. " But though Virgil has inculcated his precepts with as much 
clearness, elegance, and dignity as the nature of his subject ad- 
mits, and even in this respect has greatly improved upon Hesiod, 
still, it is not on these precepts that the chief beauty of the Geor- 
gics depends. With the various discussions on corn, vines, cattle, 
and bees, he has interwoven every philosophical, moral, or mytho- 
logical episode on which he could with propriety seize. In all di- 
dactic poems the episodes are the chief embellishments. The no- 
blest passages of Lucretius are those in which he so sincerely 
paints the charms of virtue, and the delights of moderation and 
contentment. In like manner, the finest verses of Virgil are his in- 
vocations to the gods, his addresses to Augustus, his account of 
the prodigies before the death of Caesar, and his description of 
Italy. How beautiful and refreshing are his praises of a country 
life ; how solemn and majestic his encomium on the sage, who had 
triumphed, as it were, over the power of destiny ; who had shut his 
ears to the murmurs of Acheron, and dispelled from his imagina- 
tion those invisible and inaudible phantoms which wander on the 
other side of death ! 

XII. " The judgment and poetic taste of Virgil were riper when 
he wrote the Georgics than when he was employed on the Ec- 
logues. If the lines commonly added as the concluding ones to the 
fourth book of the Georgics are genuine, Virgil was finishing this 
poem at Naples about the year B.C. 30." — (Dunlop, Hist. Rom. Lit., 
vol. iii., p. 132, seqq.) 



216 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 



BOOK I. 

Analysis of the Subject. 

I. Virgil announces to Maecenas the subject of each book of the 
poem: 1. Agriculture in general. 2. Vines and trees. 3. Manage- 
ment of cattle. 4. Bees. (v. 1-4.) 

II. Invocation of the gods (v. 5-23), and of Augustus Caesar (v. 
24-42). 

III. Commencement of the subject. Things to be attended to 
before sowing, (v. 43-99.) 

(A.) The first appearance of mildness in the season should invite 

the husbandman to the labour of the plough, (v. 43-46.) 
(B.) Fallows, (v. 47-49.) 
(C.) Previous knowledge of the climate, nature of the soil, and 

of its habitual cultivation necessary, (v. 49-62.) 
(D.) The rich soil to be ploughed deep, and early in spring ; the 

poor with a shallow furrow, in autumn, (v. 63-70.) 
(E.) Strengthening of the soil : 1. By repose ; 2. By change of 

crop; 3. By manuring; 4. By burning the stubble, (v. 71-93.) 
(F.) Breaking down the cohesive clods with harrows and osier 

hurdles, and carefully pulverizing it ; cross-ploughing, (v. 

94-99.) 

IV. Things to be attended to after sowing, (v. 100-159.) 

(A.) Dry winters and moist summers to be prayed for. (v. 100- 
103.) 

(B.) In shallow, sandy soils, the ridges to be levelled after sow- 
ing, (v. 104-105.) 

(C.) Irrigation of corn crops, (v. 106-110.) 

(D.) Depasturing the winter-proud plants, (v. 111-113.) 

(E.) Draining, (v. 114-117.) 

(F.) Precautions to be exercised against the various plagues, 
Avhich Jupiter, in order to sharpen the inventive faculties of 
man, has caused to succeed the Golden Age ; namely, the dis- 
eases of plants, the growth of weeds, the encroachment of birds 
and vermin, the exuberance of shade, the continuance of 
drought. All these evils are to be averted by the sweat of the 
brow, and by piety towards the gods. (v. 118-159.) 

V. Requisites for both employments, as well ploughing as sow- 
ing, (v. 160-203.) 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 217 

(A.) Implements of husbandry, plough, wagons, sledges, harrows, 

baskets, corn-fan, &c. (v. 160-168.) — A particular description 

of the plough, (v. 169-175.) 
(B.) Threshing-floor, (v. 176-186.) 
(C ) Attention to be paid to signs of fruitfulness ; and indication 

of some of these, (v. 187-192.) 
(D.) Medicating seed. (v. 193-196.)— Selecting of seed. (v. 197- 

203.) 

VI. Proper attention to be paid to times and seasons, (v. 204- 
310.) 

(A.) Season for sowing barley, flax, esculent poppy, (v. 208- 
214 )— Season for sowing beans, lucern, millet, (v. 215-218.) 
— Season for sowing wheat and spelt, (v. 219-226.)— Season 
for sowing vetches, lentils, &c. (v. 227-230.) 

(B.) The course of the sun ; the celestial sphere described ; the 
zones, the two poles, &c. (v. 231-251.) — Utility of this knowl- 
edge for the husbandman, (v. 252-256.) 

(C.) Employments to be attended to in rainy weather, (v. 257- 
267.) 

(D.) Employments on festival days. (v. 268-275.) 

(E.) Employments on the different days of the month, (v. 276- 
286.) 

(F.) Things to be done at night, (v. 287-296.) — On a summer's 
night, (v. 289-290.)— On a winter's night, (v. 291-296.) 

(G.) Things to be done by day. (v. 297-310.) — On a summer's 
day. (v. 297-299.)— On a winter's day. (v. 300-310.) 

VII. The weather, and the means of protection against the same, 
(v. 311-514.) 

(A.) Storms in autumn and spring particularly dangerous, (v. 

311-315.) 
(B.) Storms in summer, (v. 316-321.) — Thunder-storms, (v. 

322-334.) 
(C.) In order to guard against all of these, the positions of the 

heavenly bodies must be carefully studied, (v. 335-337.) 
(D.) But more especially the gods must be propitiated ; the sa- 
cred rites of Ceres must be duly performed, both in spring (v. 

338-346), and before the harvest, (v. 347-350.) 
(E.) Various natural prognostics of change of weather are now 

given, (v. 351-437.)— Of wind. (v. 356-369.)— Of rain. (v. 

370-392.)— Of clear weather, (v. 393-423.) 
(F.) Prognostics of weather given by the moon. (v. 424-437.) 
T 



218 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

(G.) Prognostics of weather given by the sun. (v. 438-463.) 
CH.) The sun even gives prognostics of political changes. Prod- 
igies that preceded the death of Julius Caesar, and the conse- 
quent miseries of Rome ; miseries without end, if the sacred 
plough be not restored to its due honours, if Augustus Caesar 
shall not continue to reign, and protect the cultivators of the 
fields under a pacific dominion, (v. 464-514.) 



1-4. Quid faciat latas segetes. " What may produce joyful har- 
vests," i. e., abundant ones. Compare the language of Scripture: 
" The valleys shall stand so thick with corn, that they shall laugh 
and sing." Ps. lxv., 14. — The poet, in the four opening verses, 
unfolds the plan of the entire poem. The first book is to treat of 
agriculture in general ; the second, of vines and trees ; the third, 
of the management of cattle ; the fourth, of bees. — Quo sidere. 
" Under what constellation," i. e., at what season of the year. The 
different periods proper for the performance of particular agricul- 
tural duties were known to the ancient husbandman by the rising 
and setting of particular constellations or stars. The movements 
of these served him as a kind of calendar. 

Terram vcrtere. " To turn up the ground with the plough," i. e. f 
to plough the soil. Supply aratro. — Macenas. C. Cilnius Maecenas, 
the friend and minister of Augustus, and at whose request Virgil 
composed this poem. (Consult Introductory Remarks.) — JJlmisqut 
adjungerc vites. "And to join the vines to the elms." The an- 
cients trained their vines along trees, it being thought by them that 
stages injured the quality of the fruit. The elm was the favour- 
ite tree for this purpose. Observe that, though alluding here spe- 
cially to vines, the poet refers, in fact, to the culture of trees in 
general. 

Qua, cura bourn. "What is to be our care of cattle." Supply 
sit. — Qui cultus habendo, &c. " What treatment is requisite for the 
keeping of flocks." Qui is here for quis. Observe, moreover, that 
the dative of the gerundive has here its proper force of suitable- 
ness or fitness, and that habendo pecori is equivalent, in fact, to " ut 
recte habeatur pecus," i. e., ut recte curetur. — Apibus quanta experien- 
tia, &c. " How much experience is needed for the frugal bees," 
i. e., for their rearing and care. Some editions have parvis, which 
is far less poetical and spirited. 

5-9. Hinc. " From these themes." Equivalent to ex his, or ho- 
rum partem, and intended as the language of modesty. (Compare 
the Homeric t&v apddev. Od., i., 10.) — Vos, clarissima mundi lu- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 219 

mina, &c. " Be ye propitious to my strains, O ye most resplendent 
luminaries of the universe, that lead onward the year as it glides 
through the heavens." Grammatically speaking, vos here refers to 
ferte pcdem (v. 11) in common with the other intervening nomina- 
tives ; but as this, if literally rendered, would make an incongruous 
image, we may, by the force of zeugma, suppose sitis propitii, or 
something equivalent, to be understood, and to this we may refer 
not only vos in the present line, but also the vos which is to be sup- 
plied with Liber and Ceres in the seventh. 

Mundi lumina. The reference is to the sun and moon, the solar 
system being supposed to comprise the universe. Some suppose 
mundi lumina to refer to Bacchus and Ceres, and, to suit this inter- 
pretation, place a comma after annum. This, however, is altogether 
erroneous. The several divinities are invoked in the order of their 
influence on vegetation and agriculture. First come the sun and 
moon, whose influence is greatest, and who govern the seasons 
of the entire year; and then Bacchus and Ceres are invoked, the 
bestowers respectively of wine and corn, and who lead merely two 
parts of the year. 

Liber, et alma Ceres. " (You, too), Bacchus and benignant Ceres." 
Supply et vos, i. e., and be ye, too, propitious, &c. — Vestro si mu- 
nere. " Since, through your bounty." Si is here equivalent to si- 
quidern, or quandoquidem. — Tellus Chaoniam, &c. " The earth ex- 
changed the Chaonian acorn for the rich ear," i. e., for the ear of 
corn rich with swelling grains. By tellus are meant the dwellers on 
earth's surface, or, in other words, the early race of men. Accord- 
ing to the Greek legend, the primitive seat of man was in Epirus, 
around Dodona, and here the human race lived on acorns, until an 
acquaintance with agriculture gave them the means of a better sub- 
sistence. From acorns and simple water they then rose to the use 
of grain and wine, the fabled gifts respectively of Ceres and Bac- 
chus. — Chaoniam. The epithet * Chaonian" is equivalent here to 
"Dodonaean." (Consult note on Eclog., ix., 13.) 

Poculaque inventis, &c. " And mingled (the contents of) Ache- 
loi'an cups with the newly-discovered juices of the grape," i. e., and 
mingled with water the newly-discovered wine. The Greeks and 
Romans generally drank their wine diluted with water. — Acheloia. 
According to the common interpretation, the Achelous, a river of 
Epirus, was celebrated as the first that broke forth from the sur- 
face of the early earth, and hence the name of the stream is taken 
figuratively for the element of water in general, and " Acheloian 
cups" mean merely " cups of water." Hermann, however, rejects 



220 NOTES ON THE GEOItGICS. BOOK I. 

the first part of this explanation, and makes the name 'Ax&frK refer 
to water in general, because derived from x^ vc > " testa,'''' the allu- 
sion being to pure and running water as formed from the melting 
of a covering of ice. (De Mus. Fluv., 6cc, p. 17. Opusc, vol. ii., 
p. 304.) 

10-13. Prczsentia numina. " Ye present divinities." The refer- 
ence is to divinities who are ever near at hand to aid the husband- 
man ; whereas other deities are to be invoked to come from afar. 
— Fauni. The Fauns and Dryads are here invoked as presiding 
over pastures and woods. (Consult note on Eclog., vi., 27.) — Ferlc 
pedem. " Approach." — Dryadesque. (Consult note on Eclog., ii., 46.) 
— Munera vestra. The reference is to all that precedes, namely, 
the gifts of grain, wine, herds, flocks, &c. 

Tuque, O cui prima, &c. " And thou, O Neptune, for whom the 
earth, struck by thy mighty trident, first brought forth instanta- 
neous the snorting steed," i. e., and be thou, too, propitious to my 
strains, O Neptune, at whose command, and on being struck by 
whose powerful trident, the earth produced in an instant the snort- 
ing steed, starting into life from her bosom. "When Neptune and 
Minerva were contending as to which of the two should give name 
to the capital of Attica, the gods decreed that it should be called 
after the one who produced what would prove the most usefal 
gift to man. Neptune thereupon struck the ground with his tri- 
dent, and the war-horse leaped forth. Minerva then threw her 
spear, and from the spot where it fell sprang the olive-tree. Her 
gift was adjudged to be the more useful of the two, and the city 
was accordingly called Athens, from her Greek name 'kdrjin]. Such 
is the account given by Servius, by Ovid {Met., vi., 70), and by the 
scholiast to Statius (Theb., xii., 632). On the other hand, authori- 
ties much more worthy of reliance make Neptune to have pro- 
duced in this contest a well or fountain of salt water. (Herod., 
viii., 55. — Apollod., iii.. 14, 1. — Varro, ap. Augustin., Civ. D., xviii., 
9. — Pausan., i., 26, &c.) Now it can hardly be supposed, that Virgil 
would have deviated from this latter account had he been referring 
to the contest in question ; and therefore since salt, or sea water, 
does not at all enter into the operations of husbandry, and since no 
mention is made by the poet immediately after of the olive of Mi- 
nerva, but only for the first time in line 18, we ought, in all likeli- 
hood, to refer the language of the text to the legend mentioned by 
Probus and Lucan (vi., 396), according to which Neptune, without 
any contest with any other deity, produced the first horse out of a 
rock struck by him in Thessaly, a country famed for its steeds. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 221 

This view of the subject is embraced by Cerda, Voss. and Jahn,the 
latter of whom refers, also, to Bottiger. (Amalth., vol. ii., p. 310.) 

Prima. Observe the poetic usage here of prima agreeing with 
tellies, whereas in rendering we must regard it as if written primum, 
and qualifying fudit as an adverb. Heindorff erroneously makes 
prima tellus here the same as nova tellus. {Ad Hor., Sat., i., 3, 99.) 
— Fudit. Observe the peculiar force of fudit, literally, "poured 
forth," in denoting the instantaneous result of an action. 

14-15. Et cultor nemorum, &c. " And (thou, Aristaeus), guardian 
of the groves, through whose protecting care three hundred snow- 
white steers browse upon the pasture-grounds of Cea." Both ne- 
morum and dumeta refer to pasture-grounds, covered in the former 
case with an open wood or grove, and in the latter with clumps of 
bushes, the leaves of which also afford nutriment to the cattle. Du- 
metum, properly, is a place where bushes (dumi) grow. — Cui. Equiv- 
alent here to cujus beneficio. {Wunderlich, ad loc.) — Cea. Cea, or 
Ceos, an island of the iEgean, and one of the Cyclades, was famed 
for its rich pastures. The modern name is Zea. — Ter centum. To 
be taken here as a general indication of number, and denoting 
merely numerous herds. The reference in this whole passage is 
to Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, according to the common 
legend, who attained to the rank of a divinity, and was regarded as 
the protector of flocks and herds, of the vine, and of olive planta- 
tions. He taught men to hunt, and to keep bees, and also averted 
from the fields the burning heat of the sun, as well as other causes 
of destruction. 

16-20. Ipse. Observe the force of this pronoun here in assigning 
to Pan a dignity and rank superior to that of the Fauns, the Dryads, 
and even Aristaeus. — Nemus patrium. Pan was fabled to have been 
born in Arcadia. — Saltusque Lyccei. "And the woody regions of 
Lycaeus." Mount Lycaeus, in the southwestern angle of Arcadia, 
was sacred to Pan, and famed for its woodland pastures. — Tua si 
tibi, &c. "If thy Maenalus be a care to thee." These words con- 
tain the reason why Pan should be present. So surely as Maenalus 
is dear to him, so surely ought he to be present to the bard who 
now invokes his aid. — Mcznala. (Consult note on Eclog., vii., 22.) 
— Tegeeee. " God of Tegea ;" literally, " Tegeaean." Pan was so 
called from Tegea, a city of Arcadia, where he was worshipped 
with peculiar honours. It lay in an eastern direction from the 
southern part of the Maenalian ridge. 

Oleceque, Minerva, inventrix. Consult note on line 13. — Uncique, 
puer, monstrator aratri. * And (thou, 0) boy, that didst point out to 
T2 



222 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

man the uses of the bending plough ;" literally, " pointer-out of the 
curved plough." The allusion is to Triptolemus, the son of Celeiis, 
who was taught the art of husbandry by Ceres. On a medal of 
Caracalla, the reverse represents Triptolemus in a car drawn by 
dragons, and sowing. {Buonarotti, Medagl., p. 423. Compare Ovid, 
Trist., hi., 8.) Wakefield and others incorrectly suppose that Osiris 
is here meant. — Et teneram ab radice, &c. "And thou, Silvanus, 
bearing a tender cypress uptorn by the roots." Silvanus was an old 
Italian god of the Woods, and is thus represented, bearing a young 
cypress stem in his hands, on an ancient marble. {Boissard, p. vi , 
tab. 30.) — Ab radice. Hand, less correctly, connects ab radice in 
construction with teneram, making the meaning to be " wholly ten- 
der." {Ad Tursell., i., p. 24.) 

21-23. Studium quibus, &c. "Whose fond employment it is to 
protect the fields." It was a principle of religion with the ancients, 
after the special invocation of particular deities, to conclude with a 
general one, lest any might, through forgetfulness, have been omit- 
ted. — Non ullo semine. " That spring spontaneous ;" literally, " not 
from any seed." The common text has nonnullo, in direct violation 
of the sense, although Servius tries to explain it. — Fruges. A gen- 
eral term here for " the productions of the earth." — Satis. "On the 
sown corn." Supply frumentis, the idea of which is suggested by 
fruges, in the previous line. Compare Georg., iii., 176, where the 
ellipsis is supplied : " Sed frumenta manu carpes sata.^ 

24-27. Tuque adeo, Cczsar. "And thou too, Caesar," i. e., and 
be thou, too, propitious to my strains, O Augustus. After invoking 
all the gods, who are supposed to take an interest in agriculture, 
the poet, by a stroke of courtly flattery, addresses himself to Au- 
gustus as a deity on earth, although it is still uncertain to what 
order of gods he is to belong ; whether, for example, he prefers 
being numbered among the divinities ruling the earth, the sea, or 
the boundless fields of air. Observe that adeo has here the force 
of etiam, and consult Wagner (Qucest. Virg., xxvi., 6). — Habitura 
sint. " Are to hold as their own," i. e., are to claim, and keep as 
one of their number. 

Urbesne invisere, Ccp.sar, &c. " Whether it be thy pleasure, 
Caesar, to visit the cities, and to take upon thee the guardianship 
of earth," i. e., to visit the cities of the earth as a protecting divin- 
ity, and thus to be ranked among the -&eol ko^lovx 01 - Observe the 
zeugma in the verb invisere : thus, invisere urbes is equivalent to in- 
spicere urbes, and then, from this same verb invisere, we obtain the 
general notion of habere or suscipere for the next clause, terrarum 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 223 

curam. Compare Bcntley, ad Hor., Od., i., 1, 7. — Maximus. "The 
vast." — Auctorem frugum, &c. " Is to acknowledge thee as the 
parent source of all (earth's) productions, and the ruler of the chan- 
ges of the air." Observe here, again, the general force of frugum, 
as alluding to earth's productions generally. — Tempestatumque. Not 
merely the changes of the seasons, but also the variations of the 
weather as affecting agriculture. Wakefield spoils the line by 
placing a comma after auctorem, making it thus equivalent to ducem, 
and construing frugum with tempestatumque potentem. 

Maternd myrto. The myrtle was sacred to Venus, the fabled 
mother of .Eneas, and from ^Eneas the Julian house claimed their 
descent through lulus. Augustus is to wear the maternal myrtle, 
in order to show his divine descent, and that his enjoyment of divine 
honours may excite the less surprise. 

28-31. Ac tua nauta, &c. "And mariners are to worship thy 
divinity alone," i. e., are to regard thee as the chief god of the 
waters, and therefore to invoke thy protecting influence as superior 
to that of all others. — Numina; more literally, "divine attributes." 
— Tibi serviat ultima Thule. " Whether farthest Thule is to pay thee 
homage." Thule was an island in the most northern part of the 
German Ocean, called ultima, " farthest," on account of its remote 
situation, and its being regarded as the limit of geographical knowl- 
edge in this quarter. It is supposed to coincide with Mainland, one 
of the Shetland Isles. — Tcthys. Wife of Oceanus, and mother of 
the Oceanides, or Ocean Nymphs. If Augustus becomes god of the 
sea, Tethys would willingly give him one of her numerous daugh- 
ters in wedlock, and with her, as a marriage portion, the sway over 
her whole watery domain. The common text has Thetis errone- 
ously for Tethys. 

32-35. Tardis mensibus. "To the slow months of summer." 
The summer months are called " slow," on account of the length 
of the days. (Compare Manilius, ii., 202 : " cum sol adversa per astra 
JEstivum tardis attollat mensibus annum.") — Qua locus Erigonen, &c. 
" Where a place lies open (for thee) between Erigone and the claws 
(of the Scorpion) following after ;" literally, " where a place is un- 
folded." Erigone is Virgo. Servius says, that the Egyptians reck- 
oned twelve signs of the zodiac, and the Chaldaeans but eleven ; 
that the Chaldeans allotted twenty degrees of the ecliptic to some 
signs, and forty to others ; whereas the Egyptians allotted just 
thirty to each ; and that the Chaldaeans made the Scorpion to extend 
his claws into the place of Libra. It is certain that Libra was not 
universally received as a sign among the ancients. The Scorpion, 



224 NOTES ON THE GEOEGICS. BOOK I. 

occupying two signs or places of the zodiac, held the balance on its 
projecting claws. Virgil was by no means ignorant of Libra, for he 
mentions it in another place (v. 208). He takes advantage, however, 
of this difference among the ancient astronomers, and accommodates 
it poetically, by placing Augustus, instead of Libra, the emblem of 
Justice, between Virgo and Scorpio ; and describes the Scorpion as 
drawing back his claws to make room for him. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

Ardens Scorpius. " The fiery Scorpion." The term urdens here 
does not refer merely to brightness, but contains a reference also 
to the popular belief that those born under this constellation were 
of impetuous and warlike temperaments. (Compare Manilius, iv., 
217.) — Scorpius. Some editors prefer Scorpios, the Greek form of 
the nominative. — Justd plus parte. As marking its reverence for 
the new-comer. 

36-42. Quidquid eris, &c. The idea intended to be conveyed is 
this : Whatsoever thou wilt be, do not at least feel inclined to be- 
come a god of the lower world, even though there lie the Elysian 
fields, so highly lauded by Grecian bards, and even though Proser- 
pina was so charmed with them as to be unwilling to return with 
her parent Ceres to the light of day. — Tartara. " The realms 
below." The term has here a general reference to the lower 
world, including, of course, the seat of punishment for the wicked. 
— Rcpelita. "Though sought to be regained," i. e., after her ab- 
duction by Pluto. Virgil probably alludes here to some version of 
the fable different from the common one ; since, according to the 
latter, Proserpina was detained by Pluto against her will. 

Da facilem cursum. "O grant me a favourable course," i. e., 
grant that I may successfully accomplish the object of my strain. — 
Adnue. " Favour ;" more literally, " nod assent unto." — Ignarosque 
vice mecum, &c. "And having compassionated with me the hus- 
bandmen ignorant of the way, enter upon thy career," t. c, igno- 
rant of the true path of culture, via. scil. colcndi agros. — Jam nunc. 
"Even now ;" more literally, "already now," i. e., in anticipation 
of thy divinity. 

43-49. Verenovo. " In the very beginning of spring." The poet 
now enters upon his subject. The first appearance of mild weath- 
er should invite the husbandman to the labours of the plough. The 
Romans reckoned their spring from the 7th or 9th of February to 
the 10th of May. It began with the blowing of the wind Favonius, 
or Zephyrus. Virgil, however, here refers to the first mild days of 
the year, which sometimes preceded the actual opening of the 
spring, and, according to Columella, occurred often even in the mid- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 225 

die of January. {Colum., xi., 2. Compare Pallad., ii., 3.) — Geli- 
dus humor. "The snow." — Canis. " Hoary," i. c, still covered 
with ice and snow. — Et Zepkyro putris, &c. " And the mouldering 
clod unbinds itself beneath the influence of the western breeze." 
The ground, which had been fettered by the chains of winter, is 
now softened by the heat, and crumbles before the breeze. — De- 
presso aratro. " Beneath the plough deeply pressed into the earth." 
Deep ploughing is here recommended. The Roman husbandmen 
applied a weight occasionally to depress the plough in its course, 
when they wished to make a deep furrow. 

Ilia seges demum, &c. " That land eventually answers the wish- 
es of the eager husbandman which has twice felt the sun, twice 
the cold." Seges is here equivalent to terra or ager. The mean- 
ing of this passage has been strangely misunderstood by many. 
The usual custom with the Roman farmers was to plough the 
land three times, when it fell under the denomination of hard 
land. The first ploughing was in the spring, the second in the sum- 
mer, the third in autumn {tertiabatur, Colum., ii., 4). In this way 
the ground was exposed twice to the heat of the sun and once to 
the frost. If, however, the soil was unusually hard and stubborn, 
a fourth ploughing took place at the end of autumn or beginning of 
winter*; and it is to such a process that the poet here alludes, the 
land having thus, in the course of its four upturnings with the 
plough, twice felt the sun and twice the cold. {Colum., I. c. — Voss, 
ad loc. — Hcyne, ad loc.) — Ruperunt. " Have burst," i. e., have done 
this more than once. Equivalent, therefore, to rumpere solent. 

50-55. At prius, ignolum, &c. "Before, however, we cleave with 
the share a soil, the qualities of which are as yet unknown." We 
come now to another branch of the subject. Before ploughing, we 
should get a knowledge of the climate, the nature of the soil, and 
its habitual cultivation. — Ventos. " The prevalent winds." — Vali- 
um morem coili. "The accustomed varieties of weather." Two 
thirds of Italy are made up of hills and mountains. From this 
circumstance, from its internal lakes and marshes, and from its 
being nearly surrounded by sea, no country, for the extent, was 
more subject to various and inconstant climature. Hence the im- 
portance of the precept given in the text. {Stawell, ad loc.) 

Ac patrios cultusque, &c. " And both the established modes of 
culture and peculiarities of soil." Observe the vorepov nporepov in 
cultusque habitusque, the mode of culture always depending upon, 
and being ascertained from the peculiarity of soil. Observe, also, 
that by patrios cultus is meant, not the mode of culture handed 



226 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK I. 

down from one's forefathers, as Voss explains it, but the native or 
congenial mode. — Recuset. Supply/erre. — Segetes. " Grain." — Ar- 
borei foetus. "The fruits of trees." The reference is to all pro- 
ductions of this nature. — Injussa gramina. "Unbidden grasses." 
Alluding to natural pastures, where the land is sown with no seeds. 
It is a singular circumstance that many seeds lie dormant in the 
earth till brought forward by a particular cultivation or manure. 
It is known that silicious sand, limestone gravel, and other calca- 
reous manures have brought to light the finest carpets of white clo- 
ver. Poppy seeds have also been known to lie dormant for many 
years. (TuWs Horsehoeing Husbandry.) 

56-59. Tmolus. A mountain of Lydia, in Asia Minor, famed not 
only for its wine (Georg., ii., 98), but also for its saffron. It is now 
called Bouz Dagh by the Turks. — Croccos odores. " The odorif- 
erous saffron." — Molles suathura Sabcei. "The effeminate Sabaei, 
their own frankincense," i. e., the frankincense the peculiar prod- 
uct of their own land. The Sabasi were a people of Arabia Felix, 
represented by some of the ancient writers, especially the poets, 
as one of the richest and happiest nations in the world, on account 
of the valuable products of their land. — Chalybes nudi. " The Cha- 
lybes working, thinly attired, at the forge." Observe that nudi here 
is merely equivalent to leviter vestiti. The Chalybes were a people 
of Pontus, in Asia Minor, who inhabited the whole coast from the 
Jasonian promontory to the vicinity of the River Thermodon, to- 
gether with a portion of the inner country. Their country was 
celebrated for its iron,and extensive iron-works ; and hence x^vif) in 
Greek, and chalybs in Latin, became appellations for hardened iron, 
or steel. 

Virosaque Pontus castorea. "And Pontus, the strong-smelling 
castor." Virosa is neither " poisonous," as some maintain, nor 
" powerful," or " efficacious," as others choose to render it. Cas- 
tor is an animal substance obtained from the beaver, and was much 
valued as a medicine among the ancients, and even held a high 
place for a long time in the materia medica of the moderns. For 
an account of this substance, consult Penny Cydopadia, vol. iv., p. 
124. — Eliadum patmas, &c. " Epirus, the mares that bear away 
the prize of speed at the Elian Games," i. e., at the Olympic Games, 
celebrated in Elis. Epirus was famed for its horses, and was 
hence called evnnroc and evnuloq. The ancients regarded the 
mare as swifter than the horse. (Plin., viii., 42, 64.)— Epirus. 
Some editions read Epiros, the Greek form of the nominative. 
Epirus lay to the west of Thessaly, and along the Hadriatic. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 227 

60-66. Continuo has leges, &c. " Nature, at the very outset, im- 
posed these laws upon, and entered into ever-enduring compacts 
with particular quarters of the globe, what time Deucalion first 
cast the stones along the surface of the depopulated world." Con- 
tinuo has here the force of extemplo or confestim. The laws and 
compacts referred to are, that particular lands are to require par- 
ticular modes of culture, and to yield particular products. — Deuca- 
lion. According to the Greek legend, the whole world having been 
covered by the waters of a deluge, Deucalion, the son of Prome- 
theus, and his wife Pyrrha, were the only two of the human race 
that were saved. Having applied for advice to the oracle at Del- 
phi, they were directed to throw behind them the bones of their 
mother ; that is, the stones they should pick up on the surface of 
the earth. On this having been done, the stones thrown by Deu- 
calion became men, and those cast by Pyrrha, women, and thus the 
world was re-peopled. Hence the play upon words in the Greek 
derivation of Tiaoc, "people," from Atiac, " a stone," to which even 
Pindar is not disinclined to refer. (01., ix., 66.) — Durum genus. 
" A laborious race," i. e., born for hard toil, as their origin from the 
hard stones plainly indicates. 

Terra pingue sohtm. " The soil that is rich." The rule here laid 
down is, that rich soil should be ploughed early and deep, and the 
correctness of this precept is supported by the authority of both 
Pliny (xviii., 26) and Columella (ii., 4). — Fortes. "The strong." 
Observe the peculiar propriety of this epithet, as indicating that the 
ploughing is to be heavy, and therefore requires strong bullocks. — 
Glebasque jacentes, &c. " And let the dusty summer bake with its 
mature beams the clods as they lie exposed to their influence." 
After early and heavy ploughing of a rich soil, -the ground must re- 
main upturned for the action of the midsummer sun. Observe, 
therefore, the peculiar force of maturis as indicating the heat of 
midsummer. 

67-70. Fozcunda. " Rich." The poet now treats of the manage- 
ment of a poor, thin soil. This must be ploughed only lightly, and 
late in the season ; since, if upturned during the summer, it would 
be too much parched and dried out by the heat of the sun. — Sub 
ipsum Arcturum. " At the very rising of Arcturus." According to 
Columella, Arcturus rose on the 5th of September. Pliny, however, 
makes it rise eleven days before the autumnal equinox, that is, a 
week later than Columella's account. — Tenui suspendere sulco. " To 
turn it up in a slight furrow," i. e., to plough it lightly. 

Illic. "In the former case (you will pursue the course I have 



228 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

recommended)," i. e., in the case of rich soils you will plough early 
and deep, &c. — Herba. " Weeds." The design of the first pre- 
cept is to prevent the growth of weeds, since, if the soil were allow- 
ed to retain its superabundant richness, a rank growth of weeds, 
&c, would be the inevitable result. — Hie. "In the latter case," 
i. e., in the case of a poor, thin soil. — Exiguus humor. " The scanty 
moisture." — Sterilem arenam. " The steril, sandy soil." (Consult 
note on verse 67.) 

71-74. Alternis idem tonsas, &c. " You will also suffer your re- 
newed lands to lie fallow every other year, after having parted 
with their crops ;" more literally, "after having been mown." With 
novales supply terras. By novalis terra or ager is properly meant land 
that is cultivated for the first time after having been just cleared. 
Here, however, it is applied to land that lies fallow every other 
year, and is in this way, as it were, renewed. (Consult note on Ec- 
log., i., 71.) The poet, in this passage, treats of the different modes 
in which land may regain strength. 1st, by repose (r. 71); 2d, by 
altering the crop (v. 73) ; 3d, by manuring (v. 79) ; 4th, by burning 
the stubble (v. 84). — Et segnem situ durescere campum. " And the 
exhausted ground to begin to acquire new strength by repose." 
Strictly speaking, the soil that lies fallow is exposed to the influ- 
ence of the weather, by which a fresh portion of the alkalies con- 
tained in it are again set free, or rendered soluble. — (Liebig's Agri- 
cultural Chemistry, p. 52.) 

Mutato sidere. "In another season (of the following year)." 
Equivalent, as Jahn well remarks, to "alio (alterius) anni tempore.'" 
Observe that sidere is here for sole, and compare Ovid (Met., ix., 286), 
" quum decimum premeretur sidere sigyium." The poet directs that 
the field which has been sown with beans, &c, in the spring of the 
previous year, be sown with far, or spelt, in the autumn of the fol- 
lowing year. (Compare v. 215, 220.) — Farra. " Spelt," the Trit- 
icum spelta of Linnaeus. It is a sort of corn, very like wheat, but 
the chaff adheres so strongly to the grain that it requires a mill to 
separate them, like barley. Dionysius of Halicarnassus informs us 
that the Greek fria (or &a) was the same with the Roman far, but 
Pliny treats of zea and far as two different sorts of grain. This 
seeming discordance, however, may be reconciled, by supposing 
that the latter writer had the two kinds of spelt in view. One is 
covered with a double chaff, which Virgil probably means by his 
epithet of "robusta" (r. 219). The other has a single chaff*. The 
former appears to be the fria, to which Theophrastus gives a similar 
epithet. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 229 

Latum siliqud quassante legumen. " The joyous pulse with rust- 
ling pod." A periphrasis for the simple term legumen. Virgil has 
reference here to beans, which were esteemed the principal sort 
of pulse. Thus Pliny remarks, " Sequitur natura leguminum, inter 
qua maximus honos fabis." The same author also quotes the pres- 
ent passage of Virgil, and substitutes faba for legumen. (Plin., xvii., 
9, 7; xviii , 21, 50.) — Quassante; literally, "shaking itself." Sup- 
ply sese. In heavy land of good quality this succession of wheat 
and beans is still approved of, and may be repeated. (Valpy, ad 
loc.) 

75-78. Tenues foetus vicice. "The small seeds of the vetch." 
The seeds of vetches or tares are very small in proportion to beans 
and lupines. — Tristis. " Bitter." The ancient writers on agri- 
culture agree that lupines, being sown in a field, are as dung to it. 
Columella says, that they will make the husbandman amends if he 
has no other manure. — Silvamque sonantem. " And rattling crop." 
Alluding to the noise made by the dry stalks when gathered in. 

Urit. " Exhausts." De Lille has suggested the true interpreta- 
tion of the present passage. Virgil does not interdict the sowing 
of flax, oats, or poppies, as we may clearly see from verse 212, 
where he prescribes the time for sowing flax and poppies ; he only 
directs cultivators to bear in mind that these exhaust the ground. 
From their exhausting nature, therefore, they are bad crops in ro- 
tation after wheat. But as they must be raised, they may be taken 
alternately with other crops, the ground being also highly manured. 
(Stawell, ad loc.) — Papavera. The esculent poppy of the Romans 
appears to have been the same as that of our gardens, from the 
figure of its head in the hands of many statues of Ceres. Pliny 
mentions three sorts of poppies : the white, or esculent ; the black, 
the receptacle of opium ; and the red poppy, called chceas, from its 
red colour. This last kind Martyn thinks was the corn rose, or 
poppy weed. The head of the garden poppy is round, but that of 
the red poppy is long and slender. 

79-81. Sed tamen alternis, &c. "Still, however, the labour (of 
cultivating these last) is an easy one, in alternate years." Supply 
annis with alternis. The meaning of the poet has already been 
stated, but may again be given : It is admitted that crops of flax, 
oats, and poppies exhaust the ground ; still, however, if you sow 
them every other year, other crops intervening, the task of their 
cultivation will be an easy one, provided, however, that you employ 
abundant manure. — Fimo pingui. " With fertilizing dung." The 
Romans made use of all kinds of vegetable and animal manures, 

U 



230 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

and also ashes. The latter they generally sprinkled after the crops 
were sown. 

82-83. Sic quoque mutatis, &c. " In this way, too, the fields ob- 
tain repose by the mere changing of their crops," i. e ., if you sow 
flax, or oats, or poppies, every other year, and something of a less 
exhausting nature during intervening years, the effect of these less 
exhausting crops will be as good as so many fallows for your land. 
Decandolle's theory respecting the changing of crops is as follows : 
He supposes that the roots of plants imbibe soluble matter of every 
kind from the soil, and thus necessarily absorb a number of sub- 
stances which are not adapted to the purposes of nutrition, and 
must subsequently be expelled by the roots, and returned to the soil 
as excrements. Now, as excrements cannot be assimilated by the 
plant which ejected them, the more of these matters which the soil 
contains, the more unfertile must it be for the plants of the same 
species. These excrementitious matters may, however, still be 
capable of assimilation by another kind of plants, which would thus 
remove them from the soil, and render it again fertile for the first ; 
and if the plants last grown also expel substances from their roots, 
which can be appropriated as food by the former, tney will improve 
the soil in two ways. (Liebig's Agricultural Chemistiy, p. 55.) 

Nee nulla interea, &c. " Nor, in the mean time, have you the un- 
thankfulness of land untouched by the plough," i. e., you have in 
this case all the benefit of a fallow for your land, with the additional 
advantage of an actual crop ; whereas, in ordinary cases, when 
your land lies fallow, and untouched by the plough, it is unthankful, 
because during this time it yields you nothing. The error com- 
monly made in the translation of this passage arises from mista- 
king nee nulla as equivalent to aliqua, and this last as a softened ex- 
pression for maxima. The truth is, however, that nee is a negation 
to the whole clause, nulla interea est inarata, gratia terra, and nulla 
gratia are to be construed together. (Voss, ad loc.) 

84-88. Incendere agros. Stawell thinks that the possible results 
on which the poet calculates could not be supposed to take place 
from simply burning the stubble, and he therefore takes the lan- 
guage of the poet in the literal and more enlarged sense of paring 
and burning the superficial soil also. This, however, would hardly 
have been expressed so briefly had it really been the poet's mean- 
ing. He refers merely to the process of burning the stubble. — At- 
que levem stipulam, &c. Observe how beautifully the rapid succes- 
sion of dactyls in this verse depicts the swiftness of the flame 
spreading over a stubble-field. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 231 

Sive inde occultas vires, &c. " Whether the lands receive by this 
process secret strength and rich nutriment." This is, in fact, the 
true reason. The saline substances contained in the ashes form 
an exceedingly valuable manure ; and the destruction, also, of 
weeds and insects is a collateral advantage. In modern husbandry, 
the ashes obtained by burning the straw of oats, barley, wheat, and 
rye are often spread over land with great success. (Compare 
Johnson's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, pt. iii., p. 356.) — Omne 
vitium. '! Every vicious quality." — Atque exsudal inutilis humor. 
" And the superabundant moisture exudes," i. e., is made to evap- 
orate. 

89-93. Calor ille. " The heat thus applied." Observe the force 
of the pronoun. — Cceca spiramenta. " Hidden pores." — Novas veniat 
qua succus, &c. " Where the sap may come to the tender blades." 
Observe the construction in vias. . . qua, and compare Mn., v., 590. 
— Adstringit. " Binds closely." — Ne tenues pluvice. ** Lest the fine 
rains do harm." Understand adurant, but observe that out of the 
verb in this clause must merely be elicited the general idea of doing 
harm, so that adurant is here equivalent to noceant. The reference 
is to soft, penetrating rains, which may do harm by penetrating too 
deeply, and thus producing superabundant moisture. 

Rapidive potentia solis, &c. " Or lest the too intense power of 
the scorching sun, or the penetrating cold of the north may parch." 
Observe that rapidi has here the force of vehementis. (Compare 
Eclog., ii., 10.) — Penetrabile. Used here in an active sense. (Com- 
pare Mn., x., 481.) — Adurat. Cold can parch and dry up as well 
as heat. 

94-96. Multum adeo. "Much, too." — Rastris glebas, &c. The 
process of carefully pulverizing the soil is here recommended. The 
Roman writers on agriculture term this occatio and occare. Thus 
Varro remarks (R. R., i., 29), " Occare, id est comminuere, ne sit gle- 
Ja," and Columella (xi., 2, 60), " Pulverationem faciunt, quam vacant 
rustici occationem, cum omnis gleba in vincis refringitur, et resolvitur in 
jmlverem." — Vimineas crates. "The osier hurdles." The allusion 
is to a kind' of bush-harrows (some of them were made of arbutus 
also), that were used to level the fields, as well as pulverize them, 
after the rastrum, or iron-toothed instrument, had been employed. 
(Stawell, ad loc.) If, however, the soil was a light one, the osier 
hurdles alone were employed. — Flava Ceres. " Golden Ceres," i. e., 
Ceres of golden-hued locks. An epithet is here applied to the god- 
dess of Agriculture, derived from the yellow or golden hue of the 



232 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

ripening grain. — Nequidquam. "To no purpose," i. e., without be- 
stowing upon him a rich reward for his patient assiduity. 

97-99. Et qui, proscisso, &c. " And (much does he also aid the 
fields) who, his plough being turned, again breaks in a cross direc- 
tion through the ridges, which he turns up when the surface is first 
cleaved (by the share)," i. e., the ridges which he has already turn- 
ed up by his first ploughing. We have here a description of what 
is technically termed cross-ploughing. — Proscisso. Observe the 
force of pro in this word, as denoting something previously done. — 
Imperat. " Lords it over." A term happily expressive of dauntless 
and unwearied assiduity. 

100-103. Humida solstitia, &c. " Pray, ye husbandmen, for moist 
summers and fair winters." Observe that solstitium, which prop- 
erly denotes the summer solstice merely, is here taken poetically 
for the summer generally. The winter solstice is termed bruma, 
which is also employed in the same figurative way for the winter 
in general. Pliny accuses Virgil of having made a mistake here in 
his advice ; but he might have spared his censure. There can be 
no doubt that Virgil's remark, as applied to a warm climate, is per- 
fectly well founded, since the effect of rain, in the months next fol- 
lowing the sowing of wheat, and in Italy of barley, must be to ren- 
der the young plants winter-proud ; whereas the influence of sum- 
mer showers must be as beneficial. (Valpy, ad loc.) The poet's 
advice, moreover, is in full accordance with that contained in the 
old work quoted by Macrobius (Sat., v., 20), where a father addresses 
his son in these words : " Hiberno pulvere, verno luto, grandia farra, 
Camille, metes." 

Hiberno latissima pulvere farra. " The corn is rendered most lux- 
uriant by the winter's dust," i. e., a fair and dry winter (followed, 
of course, by a moist summer) is the sure precursor of abundant 
harvests. — Nullo tantum se Mysia cultu, &c. M Mysia prides not 
herself so much on any culture (as on this peculiarity of climate), 
and Gargarus itself (in consequence of this) looks with wonder on 
its own harvests." Mysia, in the northwestern angle of Asia Mi- 
nor, was remarkable for its fertility, and Gargarus, or the southern 
slope of Ida, was the most productive part of all Mysia. This fer- 
tility, according to the poet, w T as owing, not so much to any culture, 
as to the happy climate of the country, the winters being dry and 
the summers moist. Hence even Gargarus, though the most pro- 
ductive portion of the land, was astonished at the abundance of its 
products. We have given here the explanation of Voss. Wagner 
adopts one far less natural. According to this commentator, the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 233 

meaning is as follows : Mysia, though a land remarkable for its till- 
age, prides not itself so much on the results of that tillage, as those 
fields pride themselves on their fertility which are favoured with 
dry winters and moist summers. To this, however, it may be re- 
plied, that the Romans, in speaking of the coasts of Asia and Libya, 
always describe the tillage pursued there as comparatively light, 
and requiring but little care on account of the happy nature of the 
climate and the soil. The assertion, therefore, that Mysia was a 
region remarkable for its tillage, seems entirely gratuitous. (Voss, 
ad loc.) 

Gargara. The plural form, neuter. The nominative singular is 
Gargarus. So in Greek, 6 Tdpyapoc and to. Tdpyapa. The form to 
Tupyapov also occurs. Strictly speaking, Gargarus was the name 
of one of the summits of Ida, the roots of which formed the prom- 
ontory of Lectum. 

104-105. Quid dicam. " What shall I say of him." Supply de co. 
The meaning is, what shall I say that will prove sufficient praise 
for him who, &c. After stating the processes for pulverizing the 
soil by means of larger implements, the poet now recommends at- 
tacking by hand the refractory clods, armed with beetles and clubs, 
breaking them to pieces, and levelling them to the surface. (Valpy, 
ad loc.) — Comminus arva insequitur. " Presses upon the fields in 
close conflict," i. e., enters on what is next to be done with close 
and persevering assiduity, and allows the fields not an instant's re- 
pose. — Ruit. "Breaks up," i. e., levels. Observe that ruo is not 
an intransitive verb employed here in a transitive sense, but that 
the verb in question was originally a transitive one, though this 
transitive meaning was subsequently confined, for the most part, to 
the poets, as in the present instance. 

Malt pinguis arena*. "Of the barren sand," i. e., of a barren, 
sandy soil. We have followed here the opinion of Frenzel (Archiv. 
fur Philol. und Paid., vol. i., p. 139), who regards male pinguis as 
equivalent to infecunda. Voss, however, and many others, make 
male pinguis arena mean, " of the too rich (and adhesive) soil," re- 
garding male pinguis as having the force of nimis pinguis, and giv- 
ing arena the general meaning of " soil." That the reference, 
however, is to a sandy soil, the succeeding verses, where irrigation 
is spoken of, very clearly show. 

106-110. Satis. "Among the sown corn." — Fluvium. "A co- 
pious stream." Used here in a general sense for any abundant flow 
of water.— Et, quam exustus ager, &c. " And (again), when the 
parched field pants with its dying herbage." In the previous line 
U2 



234 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

the poet refers to the process of irrigation after sowing ; and now 
he speaks of irrigation when the blade is up. — Supcrcilio clivosi tra- 
mitis. "Over the brow of some sloping track-worn eminence," i. 
e., over the top of some gently-sloping eminence, the sides of which 
are track-worn by the streams that have often before this been 
made to descend by him on similar occasions. In the expression 
tramitis, therefore, we see a neat allusion to the unremitting care 
of the provident husbandman. The same idea is also implied in 
the epithet levior, in the succeeding line, where the reference is to 
stones worn smooth by the frequent descent of the water. — Scate- 
brisque temperat. " And refreshes with its bubbling streams." 

111-114. Quid. For quiddicam.de eo. — Procumbat. " Bend to the 
ground," i. e., be weighed down. — Luxuricm segetum, &c. " Feeds 
down the luxuriance of the crop while yet in the tender blade." 
This is to be done when the corn is too luxuriant or winter-proud. 
Theophrastus {Hist. Plant., viii., 7) and Pliny (H. N., xviii., 44, &c.) 
both acknowledge the practice. The latter also advises, that the 
corn in this condition should be combed before it is pastured, and s-arc- 
ling afterward; the first, with the design, probably, of thinning the 
crop ; the last, to open the surface of the field, which is liable to be 
hardened by the poaching of cattle. 

Sulcos aquant. " Equalizes the furrows (with the intervening 
ridges)." Supply porcis. The ridge of land raised between two 
furrows was technically called porca. (Varro, L. L., iv., 4.) The 
period referred to is when the whole field is covered with verdure, 
and furrows and ridges are thus brought upon a level, or, in other 
words, are no longer seen. Heyne, less correctly, makes sulcos 
here equivalent to porcas. — Quique paludis, &c. " And of him, who 
drains away the collected water of the fen by means of the bibulous 
sand." The ordinary process of draining was to cut trenches, 
called by Pliny and Columella collides, and by Festus elices, and in 
this way lead off the water. Here, however, trenches appear to 
be meant which are either cut through a sandy and absorbing soil, 
or which lead the water off to ground of this kind. Some commen- 
tators imagine that the poet refers to sand thrown on moist ground 
and mixed with it, in order to suck up the superfluous moisture. 
This, however, appears inconsistent with the plain meaning of de- 
ducit. 

115-117. Prcesertim, incertis, &c. The husbandman must attend 
particularly to draining, after an inundation has taken place. — In- 
certis mensibus. " During those months when the weather is most 
changeable." This language suits both the season of spring and 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS.-^BOOK I. 235 

that of autumn. Here, however, the spring months are particularly- 
meant.— Abundans. " Swelling with its waters." — Exit. " Over- 
flows its banks;" literally, "goes forth (from its accustomed bar- 
riers)." — Unde cava tepido, &c. " Whence the hollow undulations 
of the soil sweat with the warm (and noxious) moisture," i. e., from 
which same cause, too, it happens that the hollows, in different 
parts of the ground, are filled with water, which stagnates, and 
emits, under the influence of a hot sun, noxious exhalations injuri- 
ous to health. The removal of this evil, therefore, will also require 
the earnest care of the husbandman. 

118-120. Hcbc sint vcrsando terram experti. "Have tried these 
various expedients in the cultivation of the earth." After all these 
toils of man and beast in the culture of the ground, other evils still 
remain to be encountered, which the poet now proceeds to enu- 
merate. — Tmprobus. "Voracious." This epithet here refers to that 
which exceeds all ordinary bounds and measure, and is therefore 
injurious. The wild goose is here meant. This bird was execra- 
ted by the husbandman, as she still continues to be, for the burn- 
ing quality of her ordure, as well as for pulling up the herbage by 
the roots. The latter cause is the better founded of the two, and 
is here meant. (Compare Palladius, i., 30: " Anser locis consitis 
inimicus est, quia sata et morsu ladit et stcrcore") — Strymoniaeque 
grues. "And the Strymonian cranes," i. e., the cranes from Thra- 
cian climes. The Strymon was a river of Thrace, forming, at one 
time, the boundary of that country on the side of Macedonia. The 
cranes flying to the south on the approach of winter were supposed 
to come from the northern countries of Thrace. 

Et amaris intuba fibris. " And the succory with its bitter roots." 
Intubum, or intubus, is commonly translated "endive," but the 
plant which Virgil means is " succory." The Greek name is aipic. 
Dioscorides says that there are two kinds of aipic, one wild, and 
the other cultivated. The wild sort was called izUpic, probably from 
its bitterness, and is the species of plant which Virgil here refers 
to as having bitter fibres or roots. It is a pernicious weed among 
corn, and destroys the latter by the spreading of its roots. It is 
also a favourite food for wild geese, and therefore invites these 
destructive birds into the fields where it happens to grow. — Umbra. 
The shade not only of trees, but of useless or noxious plants. 

121-124. Pater. " Jove." — Colendi viam. " The path of agri- 
culture." Supply terrain after colendi. — Primusque per artem, &c. 
" And he first aroused the fields through human skill," i. e., Jupiter 
first, of all the rulers of the universe, commanded the fields to be 



230 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

cultivated, and their latent energies to be aroused by the skilful 
labour of man. The meaning of the poet is, that agriculture came 
in with Jove. Under the reigns of previous monarchs of the uni- 
verse, especially that of Saturn, his immediate predecessor, the 
earth yielded all things without culture. — Curis acuens mortalia corda. 
This account of the providential origin of some seeming evils is as 
philosophical as it is beautiful. Want is the parent source of arts 
and inventions ; infirmities and weaknesses are the cause and ce- 
ment of human society. — Nee lorpere gravi, &c. "Nor suffered his 
realms to lie torpid under heavy lethargy," i. e., nor allowed the 
human race, now brought under his sway by the dethronement of 
Saturn, to continue to lead a life of torpid inaction. 
I 125-128. Ante Jovem. "Before the reign of Jove," i. e., in the 
Golden Age. The reign of Jove marks the commencement of the 
Silver Age, when agriculture began, and civil society was first or- 
ganized. — Ne signare quidem, &c. " It was not even allowed to 
mark out or parcel off any portion of ground by a boundary." The 
true reading here is undoubtedly ne, as we have given it, and which 
is approved of by Bentley (ad Horat., Sat., ii., 3, 262), Heyne, Wag- 
ner, and many others. The other reading is nee, which is followed 
by Voss and Jahn ; but the sense requires the emphatic ne, not 
the connecting nee. The poet means that not only before the time 
of Jove was there no culture of the fields, but even such a thing as 
separate property in fields was entirely unknown. 

In medium quarebant. " They sought (all things) for the common 
benefit." Observe that in medium is not, as some render it, " in com- 
mon," but the meaning of the clause is, that they gathered the 
spontaneous productions of the earth into a common store for all. 
(Compare the explanation of Heyne : " Quicquid acquirebant, para- 
bant, in commune parabant et afferebant.^) Yoss compares this state 
of things with that of the bees, as described in the fourth book of 
the Georgics, v. 157. — Ipsaque. " Of her own accord," i. e., with- 
out culture. — Nullo poscenle. " Since no one asked them at her 
hands," i. e., since no one tilled her surface. 

129-134. Hie. " That deity." Referring to Jove.— Atris. For 
diris, as Jacobs correctly explains it. — Pradarique. " To prowl." — 
Movcri. "To be agitated (by storms)." Burmann thinks that the 
reference here is to agitation by means of oars, or, in other words, 
to navigation ; but, were this so, the 136th verse would be an idle 
repetition. — Mellaque decussitfoliis. The leaves of the trees, during 
the Golden Age, had yielded a honeyed dew for human sustenance ; 
but this was removed in the time of the Iron Age, and man was 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 237 

compelled to seek for food by the sweat of his brow. It is no un- 
common thing, observes Martyn, to find a sweet, glutinous liquor 
on oak leaves, which might give the poets reason to imagine that 
in the Golden Age the leaves abounded with honey. — Ignemque re- 
movit. " And removed the fire (from view)." Fire had been known 
to the human race in the age of Saturn ; but Jove now removes it 
from view, and hides it in the veins of the flint (v. 135), in order 
that human ingenuity may be sharpened in the search for it, and 
that from its recovery may date the commencement of the arts, and 
the consequent comforts and amelioration of social existence. 

Et passim rivis, &c. A species of Oriental metaphor, to indicate 
great abundance. Jove checks all these things, in order that man 
may be compelled to invent various arts, and thus obtain from his 
own labours what the earth had before this period spontaneously 
yielded ; in other words, in order that civil society might begin, 
mutual wants forming a common bond of union. — Ut varias usus, 
&c. H That experience, by dint of reflection, might gradually strike 
out various arts." 

135-138. Tunc abios, &c. "Then first the rivers felt the press- 
ure of the alders hollowed out (by the hands of man)," i. e., then 
navigation commenced. The alder is named as having afforded 
the first rude means of transportation on the water, since it grows 
along the shores of rivers, and in marshy places, and would there- 
fore be most accessible for this purpose. — Stellis numeros, &c. 
*i Gave numbers and names to the stars." The stars would be a 
guide to the early navigators, and continued so, in fact, until the in- 
vention of the compass. The giving of " numbers to the stars" 
means merely, as Jacobs remarks, that, for the purpose of distin- 
guishing between the different constellations, they would count the 
number of stars in each. 

Pleiadas. The Pleiades are a cluster of stars forming a constel- 
lation on the back or neck of Taurus. The rising of the Pleiades 
in the spring brought with it the spring rains, and opened naviga- 
tion. — Hyadas. The Hyades are a cluster of stars, forming a con- 
stellation at the head of Taurus. Their setting, at both the evening 
and morning twilight, was for the Greeks and Romans a sure pre- 
sage of wet and stormy w r eather, these two periods falling respec- 
tively in the latter half of April and November. (Ideler, Stemnatnen, 
p. 139.) — Claramque Lycaonis Arcton. " And the bright bear of Ly- 
caon." Alluding to the Ursa Major, or Greater Bear; according 
to the poetic legend, Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, 
who was changed into this constellation. Hence the meaning of 



238 N0TE3 ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

the clause, in fact, is this : " The bright bear, the daughter of Lyca- 
on." The student will observe the peculiar construction here, by 
which the accusatives Pleiadas, Hyadas, and Arcton are put in ap- 
position with nomina. 

139-142. Fallere visco. " To deceive (the feathered race) with 
bird lime." The idea of aves is implied in /eras. — Atque alius latum, 
&c. " And now one, seeking the deep places, lashes the broad 
river with a casting net." Fishing by net is here alluded to. By 
aha are meant the deep parts of the river wherein to sink the net 
more conveniently. Heyne and others connect alta pelens with pcl- 
agoque, &c, and place a semicolon after amnem. This, however, 
is very justly condemned by Wagner and others. The connective 
que is not accustomed to be added to the second or third word of 
the clause, unless a preposition precede, as in Eclog., v., 57, " Sub 
pedibusque," &c. — Humida Una. " His wet lines." This is com- 
monly supposed to allude to the drag-net, the lines of which are so 
long, by reason of the depth of the water, that the fisherman's em- 
ployment seems to be nothing else but " trahere humida Una." More 
probably, however, the reference is to the mode of fishing by long 
line, with hooks baited and fixed to it at intervals : this is sunk by 
a weight at one end, and buoyed at the other ; and after some hours 
is again drawn up. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

143-146. Tumferri rigor, &c. " Then (was discovered) the art 
of tempering iron, and (then was invented) the blade of the grating 
saw." Supply inventus est with rigor, and invenia est with lamina. 
Some, less neatly, supply venit, from verse 145. — Primi. " The early 
race of men ;" literally, " the first men." — Labor improbus. " Per- 
severing industry." — Egestas. " Necessity." The pressure of 
human wants. 

147-149. Prima Ceres, &c. The connexion in the train of ideas 
is as follows : Before the time of Jove there was no cultivation of 
the fields. With the empire of Jove came in the various arts of 
civilized life, and among others that of agriculture, as taught by 
Ceres to man. — Quum jam glandes, &c. " When now the acorns 
and the arbutes of the sacred wood began to fail, and Dodona to 
deny its accustomed sustenance to man." The early race of men 
were fabled to have fed on acorns and other products of the trees, 
and to have dwelt at this time round about Dodona, amid its groves 
of oak sacred to Jupiter. (Compare note on Georg., i., v. 8.) — Ar- 
buta. The arbutum, or wild strawberry, is the fruit of the arbutus, 
or arbute-tree. (Compare note on Eclog., iii., 82.) According to 
Martyn, the lower class of people in Italy frequently eat the fruit, 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 239 

which makes, however, a very sorry diet. — Dcjiccrcnt. Observe the 
force of the subjunctive in this verb and negaret, as referring to the 
accounts of others, that is, to the statements of early legends. 

150-154. Ut mala culmos, &c. " Where the blighting mildew 
began to consume the stalks, and the lazy thistle to rear its prickly 
head in the fields." — Esset. Imperfect subjunctive of edo. Ob- 
serve here again, and also in horreret, the force of the subjunctive 
in referring to the accounts of early legends. — Rubigo. The mil- 
dew or blight is a disease to which corn is very subject. Many 
modern writers take rubigo to mean " smut," which is a putrefac- 
tion of the ear, and converts it into a black powder. But Virgil men- 
tions rubigo as a disease of the stalk. — Carduus. Thistles are well 
known to be very injurious to corn. 

Subit arpera silva, &c. " In their place arises a prickly wood, 
both burs and caltrops." According to Martyn, lappa seems to 
have been a general word to express such things as stick to the 
garments of those who pass by. We use the word " bur," he adds, 
in the same manner, though what is properly so called is the head 
of the Bardana major, or burdock. — Tribuli. The tribulus, or land 
caltrop, is an herb with a prickly fruit, which grows in common in 
Italy and other warm countries. — Nitenlia culta. " The bright cul- 
tivated fields," i. e., amid the fields of grain shining brightly on the 
view. Supply loca. — Infelix lolium, &c. (Consult Eclog., v., 87.) 
— Dominantur. " Bear undisputed sway." 

155-159. Quod ?iisi. "Unless then;" literally, "on which ac- 
count, unless." Supply propter with quod. — Assiduis rastris. " By 
continual applications of the rake." Here the poet concludes with 
a particular injunction to avoid the plagues which he mentioned 
several lines back (v. 119, seqq.). He recommends diligent raking 
to break down the clods after ploughing ; the birds are also to be 
scared away, especially the geese and cranes ; and he advises, 
moreover, to restrain the overshadowing boughs, because shade is 
hurtful to the corn, "umbra nocet." He puts the husbandman in 
mind, likewise, of the duty of praying for showers, because these 
depend on the will of the gods. 

Ruris opaci premes umbras. " Shalt check the luxuriant foliage 
of the shady country," i. e. y the too dense foliage of the trees. Rus 
opacum is a poetic form of expression for arboribus consitus agcr, and 
hence for arbores simply. — Spectabis. Wakefield cites spcrabis as 
the reading of a manuscript in the British Museum {ad Lucret., ii., 
2) — Concussdque famem, &c. The husbandman who neglects the 
advice which the poet gives will have to appease his hunger in the 



240 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

woods with the acorn shaken from the oaks, or, in other words, 
with the wild products of nature. Poetic exaggeration, to denote 
the difficulty of procuring sustenance. 

160-164. Dicendum et, qua sint, &c. " I must mention, also, 
what are to be the implements for the hardy rustics." Here the 
poet begins to describe the various implements with which a hus- 
bandman ought to be provided. — Vomis et inflexi, &c. "First the 
share, and the heavy timber of the curved plough." The common 
text erroneously places a comma after vomis. Observe that vomis 
here is an earlier and rarer form for vomer, and is likewise employ- 
ed by Cato (R. R., 135, 2) and Columella (ii., 2, 26).— Primum. 
This adverb is here used in the beginning of an enumeration, with- 
out turn or deinde, &c, following. — Grave robur. Heavy timber 
would be required for the purpose of deep ploughing in the rich 
Italian soil, the heaviness of the plough causing it, of course, to sink 
deeper. — Eleusincz matris. Ceres, worshipped particularly at Eleu- 
sis in Attica, and the parent {mater) of agriculture. — Volventia. 
Used here intransitively, but having, in strictness, sese understood. 
Observe that tarda is poetic for tardum, i. e., tarde. 

Tribulaque, traheaque. " And sledges and drags." The Roman 
husbandmen had three modes of extracting the corn : the first and 
most usual, by means of the tribulum; the second, and less usual, 
by employing the trahea; and the third, or least customary of all, 
by means of per ticce, or flails. The tribulum {rpi6o?,a) consisted of 
a thick and ponderous wooden board, which was armed underneath 
with pieces of iron or sharp flints, and drawn over the corn by a 
yoke of oxen, either the driver or a heavy weight being placed upon 
it. It served the purpose of both separating the grain and cutting 
the straw. The trahea, or traha, was either entirely of stone, or 
made of the trunk of a tree. Both the tribulum and trahea are still 
used in Greece, Asia Minor, Georgia, and Syria, and are described 
by various travellers in those countries. {Diet. Antiq., s. v.) 

Et iniquo pondere rastri. " And rakes of disproportioned weight," 
i. e., of a weight almost exceeding human strength to manage. 
The raster bidens, or two-pronged rake, was the one most commonly 
employed. It was used to upturn the soil, and thus to perform, on 
a small scale, the part of a plough ; but it was much more com- 
monly employed in the work called occatio, that is, the breaking 
down of the clods after ploughing. Hence it was heavy (iniquo 
pondere). The following wood-cut, taken from a funereal monu- 
ment at Rome, represents a rustic holding a raster bidens. The 
other instruments are the falx, and pala, or spade. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 241 




165-168. Virgea praterea Celei, &c. "Besides these, the cheap 
osier furniture of Celeus," i. «., baskets, cheese-crates, &c, all 
made out of osiers and other cheap or common materials, and the 
art itself of making which was taught by Ceres to Celeus, the 
father of Triptolemus. Virgea agrees with supellex. Some refer 
it to vasa understood, which is far less poetical, and quite unneces- 
sary.— ArbutecB crates. The same with the viminea. crates mention- 
ed in line 95. — Mystica vannus Iacchi. " The mystic fan of Bac- 
chus." The vannus, or winnowing fan, was a broad basket into 
which the corn, mixed with chaff, was received after threshing, 
and was then thrown in the direction of the wind. It thus perform- 
ed with greater effect and convenience the office of the winnowing 
shovel. Virgil dignifies this simple instrument by calling it mystica 
vannus Iacchi. The rites of Bacchus, as well as those of Ceres, 
having a continual reference to the occupations of rural life, the 
vannus was borne in the processions celebrated in honour of both 
these divinities. On an antefixa in the British Museum, the infant 
Bacchus is represented as carried in a vanrtus by two dancing 
Bacchantes. The vannus. was also used in the processions to 
carry the instruments of sacrifice and the first-fruits or other offer- 
ings. 

Provisa reponcs. Equivalent, in. effect, to providebis et repones. — 
Si tc digna, &c. .*' If thee the glory of divine agriculture awaits," 
i. e., if you aspire to the true glory of a well-cultivated farm. 

X 



242 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 



169-170. Continuo. " In the first place." — In sihis magna vi, &c. 
The order is, ulmus flexa in sihis magna vi dom-atur in burim et acci- 
pit formam curvi aralri. Virgil's description of the plough, which 
here follows, has given rise to much discussion, and still remains 
open to the same. The annexed wood-cut shows the form of a 
wheel-plough, as represented on a piece of engraved jasper of Ro- 
man workmanship. It corresponds in all essential particulars with 
that now used about Mantua and Venice, and is very probably the 
same with that described by the poet. It shows distinctly the 
coulter, the share-beam, the plough-tail, and the handle, or stiva. 
(Diet. Anliq., s. v. Aratrum.) 

ft 




Domatur in burim. "Is subdued into the plough-tail," i. c, is 
made to assume its form. The buris might be made of any piece 
of a tree (especially the ilex, or holm oak), the natural curvature of 
which fitted it to this use ; but in the time and country of Virgil, 
pains were taken to force a tree into that form which was most 
exactly adapted to the purpose. 

171-172. Huic a stirpe, &c. "To this, from below, are fitted a 
pole extended to eight feet, two earth-boards, and share-beams with 
a double back," i. c, to the lower part of this, &c. — Tcmo. The 
pole anciently used in ploughing did not differ from those employed 
for draught in general, and therefore needs no particular descrip- 
tion. — Bin<z aures. The earth-boards, called also mould-boards, 
rose on each side of the plough, bending outward in such a manner 
as to throw on either hand the soil which had previously been loos- 
ened and raised by the share. They were adjusted to the share- 
beam, which was made double for the purpose of receiving them. 
According to Palladius (i., 43), it was desirable to have ploughs 
both with earth-boards (aurita) and without them (simplicia). 

Dentalia. These share-beams are supposed to have been in the 
form of the Greek letter A, which will serve to explain the 4> duplici 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 243 

dorso." It is probable that the buris was fastened to the left share- 
beam, and the stiva, or handle, to the right. Virgd's plough will 
then resemble the modern Lancashire one, which is commonly held 
behind with both hands. When the plough was held either by the 
stiva alone, or by the buris alone, a piece of wood (called manicula) 
was fixed across the summit, and on this the labourer pressed with 
both hands. {Diet. Ant., s. v. Aratrum.) 

173-175. Tilia: The linden or lime tree is meant; the Tilia 
Europcea of botanists. — Ante. " Beforehand." — Altaque fagus stiva. 
"And the tall beach for the plough handle.'" We have adopted 
here the conjecture of Martyn, namely, stiva, along with Manso, 
Voss, and Jahn. The common reading is stivaque, which is sought 
to be defended by Wagner, who regards fagus stivaque as equiva- 
lent to stiva faginea. — Qua currus a tergo, &c. " To turn the bot- 
tom of the vehicle from behind." Virgil, it will be seen, considers 
the stiva as used to turn the plough at the end of the furrow. Ser- 
vius, however, in his note on this line, explains stiva to mean "the 
handle by which the plough is directed." — Currus. This term indi- 
cates, of course, the wheel-plough. Wagner, however, reads cur- 
sus, and asserts, in defence of this lection, that the ancient plough 
had no wheels. (Consult note on line 170 ) 

i Et suspensa focis, &c. "And the smoke seasons the timber hung 
up at the hearths," i. e., and the wood is then hung up by the hearth 
for the purpose of being seasoned by the smoke. Many manuscripts 
have exploret ; but this is an erroneous reading, since the poet 
merely states what is customary, and lays down no precept. — Focis. 
The ancients suspended wood in the smoke arising from their 
hearths, for the purpose of seasoning. The focus, or hearth, in the 
humbler class of dwellings, was generally in the centre of the apart- 
ment, and the smoke escaped by means of an aperture in the roof, 
and also by the windows and door. — Explorat. Observe the pecu- 
liar force of this term here. The smoke " explores" the timber, 
for the purpose of ascertaining whether there be any chinks in it. 
(Compare the language of Servius : " Namque ad exudandum fumum 
adhibila (ligna), si rimas faciunt et scissuras, mala sunt et infirma.^) 

176-177. Possum multa tibi, &c. After mentioning the instru- 
ments of agriculture, the poet proceeds to give instructions con- 
cerning the making of the threshing-floor, and to impart some par- 
ticular precepts. — Veterum. " Of ancient writers," i. e., of ancient 
writers on husbandry. He alludes particularly to Cato and Varro, 
who wrote before him, and from whom he has taken the directions 
■••elating to the floor. — Tenuesque piget cognoscere curas. " And art 



244 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

loth to become acquainted with (what seem to thee) unimportant 
objects of care." 

178-180. Area. " A threshing-floor." The threshing-floor was 
a raised place in the field, open on all sides to the wind. Great 
pains were taken to make this floor hard ; it was sometimes paved 
with flint-stones (Colum., i., 6), but more usually covered with clay, 
and smoothed with a great roller. It was also customary to cover 
it with the lees of oil, which prevented insects injuring it, or grass 
growing upon it. In the mild climate of Italy, remarks Voss, where 
rain rarely, and even then not for any length of time, falls at the 
period of harvest, the threshing could easily be attended to in the 
open air. 

El verlenda manu. Servius, observes Valpy, notices here the 
vorepoloyiav. In point of time the earth must first be turned up, 
or worked, with the hand, and made solid, then levelled. — Et creta 
solidanda tcnaci. " And to be consolidated by means of tough 
clay." We must be careful not to translate creta here by our term 
" chalk." The word creta, in a general sense, means any whitish 
earth or clay, such as potter's clay, pipe-clay, &c. Symmons says 
that there is no such thing as chalk to be found in Italy, and he 
therefore thinks that calcareous marl is here meant by the poet, 
there being an abundance of this in the same country. (Consult 
Diet. Antiq., s. v. Creta.) — Neu pulvere victa fatiscat. "Nor lest, 
overcome by drought, it may gape in chinks," i. e., and to keep it 
also from growing dusty and chapping. 

181-183. Titmvariceilludantpestes. "Then again, various plagues 
are likely to baffle (the labours of the husbandman)." Observe the 
force of the subjunctive in indicating the probable chance of a 
thing's occurring. — Exiguus mus. Quintilian praises the ending 
of this line, observing that not only the diminishing epithet, but 
the ending of the verse with one syllable, beautifully expresses the 
littleness of the animal. (Martyn, ad loc.) — Sub terris posuitque 
domos, &c. Mr. WagstafF says (Bath Papers}, that the tussocks of 
wheat seen to arise in many fields are owing to the granaries of 
these diminutive animals, which he has often found to contain near- 
ly a hatful of corn, which grow into a tuft if the owner be acci- 
dentally destroyed : these tufts he recommends to be divided, and 
transplanted in the spring. (Stawell, ad loc.) 

Aut oculis capti, &c. Virgil speaks here according to the popular 
opinion, when he makes the mole to be deprived of vision. This 
animal has eyes, but of a very diminutive size. The little eye is 
so hidden in the fur, that its very existence was for a long time 

R 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 245 

denied. It appears to be designed fur operating only as a warning 
to the animal on its emerging into the light ; and, indeed, more 
acute vision would only have been an encumbrance. (Penny Cy- 
clop., vol. xxiv., p. 18 ) 

184-186. Inventusque cavis bufo. " The toad, too, is found in hol- 
low places." The common toad (Rana bufo) usually sojourns in ob- 
scure and sheltered places, and passes the winter in holes, which 
it hollows for itself. With the exception of this species of burrow- 
ing, it does no harm to the husbandman. — Et qua plurima terra, &c. 
" And (other) vermin, which the earth produces in very great abun- 
dance." — Curcv.Uo. "The weevil." An insect of the beetle kind, 
which, both in its larva state and in its beetle form, proves very 
destructive to the grain, sometimes destroying one third or one 
fourth of the whole crop. The curculio here meant, and to which 
this description here applies, is the Calundra granaria, the corn- 
weevil, or weevil proper, for the genus Curculio of Linnaeus is now 
the type of a large family of insects. 

Inopi metuens senecta. "Fearing for needy old age," i. e., and 
the ant busily employed in laying up its winter stores. The term 
" old age" is to be regarded here as equivalent to " winter," it be- 
ing the popular belief that the ant seldom lives beyond one year, 
and that it supports itself in the winter season on the stores which 
it has accumulated during the summer. The true state of the case, 
however, is as follows : Male and female ants survive, at most, till 
autumn, or to the commencement of cool weather, though a very 
large proportion of them cease to exist long before that time. The 
neuters pass the winter in a state of torpor, and, of course, require 
no food. This well-ascertained fact proves that the so-called fore- 
sight of the ants has no other object than the continuance of the 
species by perfecting and securing their habitations. These abodes 
are composed of blades of grass, ligneous fragments, pebbles, and 
shells of small volume, and of all objects which they meet with of 
easy transportation ; and as they often gather, for the same purpose, 
grains of wheat, bariey, and oats, it has been popularly believed 
that they laid up provisions for winter, and a period of want. The 
only time, however, when the ants require food is during the sea- 
son of activity, when they have a vast number of young to feed. 

187-188. Contemplator item. " Observe also." The imperative 
of contemplor (2d person) is here employed in commencing a pre- 
cept, in imitation of Lucretius (ii., 113 ; vi., 189), who himself cop- 
ies from the similar usage of the Greek didactic poets in the case 
of cKEiTTio, Qpdfro, &c. — Quum se nux plurima, &c. "When the 
X 2 



246 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

almond-tree in the woods shall array itself very abundantly in blos- 
soms, and shall bend down its strong-smelling branches." Martyn 
insists that by nux is here meant, not the almond, but the walnut- 
tree, and he has certainly one argument in his favour, the strong 
smell of the branches, namely, being far more applicable to the wal- 
nut than to the almond. But then, again, the abundant flowering 
is in favour of the latter. Servius also declares for the almond-tree, 
and we learn likewise, from other ancient writers, that the husband- 
man was accustomed to draw from this same tree his prognostics 
of the coming harvest. (Theophylact., Probl. Nat., c. 16. Philo, de 
Vit. Mos., iii., p. 163, vol. ii., ed. Mang.) The difficulty in the pres- 
ent case arises from the circumstance of the term nux being em- 
ployed by the Roman writers in so extended a sense, to denote the 
almond, the walnut, the hazelnut tree, &c. Most commonly, how- 
ever, an epithet is added, to make the meaning more definite ; thus, 
nux juglans, " the walnut ;" nux amygdala, " the almond ;" nux axcl- 
lana, " the hazelnut or filbert," &c. (Compare Fie, Flore de Virgile, 
p. clxxxvi.) 

Induet se in florem. Observe that in jlorem is not used poetically 
here for in flore, as some suppose, but is employed as a much 
stronger form of expression. Induere se flore means merely to deck 
or array one's self with flowers or blossoms, without any allusion 
to the number of the same, which may therefore be comparatively 
small ; but induere se in florem is to array one's self in a complete 
garniture or covering of these, as one envelops himself in a mantle, 
so that quite a change of appearance is thereby produced. (Voss, 
cd loc) 

189-192. Si super ant foetus. " If the incipient fruit abound," i. e. t 
if the blossoms be more numerous than usual. Observe here the 
force of the indicative, " if the incipient fruit abound, as you plainly 
see it does.'" — Foetus. The blossoms, which are of course to be suc- 
ceeded by the young fruit itself. — Parker. " In equal quantity," i. e., 
if the blossoms abound, the corn will likewise be abundant. — Tritu- 
ra. According to Heyne, this term is put here for messis ; it is bet- 
ter, however, to take it in its literal sense. The poet means that 
the threshing of the grain will be a laborious task, in consequence 
of the abundance of the crop. 

At, si luxurid foliorum, &c. " If, however, the shade be rendered 
exuberant by a luxuriance of foliage," i. e., if the almond-tree have 
a far greater number of leaves than of blossoms. "We have adopt- 
ed exuberet, with one of the MSS. The context requires the sub- 
junctive here, to denote a possible or hypothetical case, just as it 



NOTES OX THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 247 

demanded the indicative in supera?it (v. 189) to indicate one that 
had actually happened. — Pingues paled. "Abounding only in chaff." 

193-196. Semina vidi cquidcm, &c. The poet now enters upon the 
subject of medicating seeds before sowing, &c. It must be borne 
in mind, however, that only the seeds of leguminous plants, or 
pulse, are meant, as plainly appears by the expression " siiiquis fal- 
lacibus," subsequently employed. — Serentes. " When preparing to 
sow." Observe here the peculiar force of the present participle, as 
indicating the commencement of an action. — Et nitro prius, &c. 
" And steep them beforehand in a solution of nitre and dark olive 
lees." By " nitre" is here meant, in fact, saltpetre ; though the an- 
cient writers commonly understood by nitrum, or virpov, a carbon- 
ate of soda. — Amurcd. This term properly denotes the watery part 
of olives tnat flows out on pressing. (Cato, R. R., 91. — Yarro, R. R., 
i., 64 ) It comes from the Greek dfiopyrj, and is one of the words 
which, though written with a c, is to be pronounced with a g. 
(Sere, ad loc.—Tcrcnt. Maur., p. 2402.) 

Grandior ut fatus, &c. "' In order that the produce might be 
larger in the pods, so apt to deceive." The pods often appear larger 
than usual when they are actually empty. (Sere, ad loc.) Hence 
the peculiar propriety of the epithet fallacibus. Columella mentions, 
as another advantage resulting from the medicating of seeds, that 
the blade which springs up is less liable to injury from the weevil. 
(Colum., ii., 10.) 

Et,quamris, igni exiguo, &c. " And yet, though they were soaked 
(in this mixture) over a scanty fire, being quickened (by the pro- 
cess), I have seen them, nevertheless," &c, i. e., though they were 
immersed in this preparation, made merely tepid over a slow fire, 
for the purpose of quickening them, and causing the seed to germi- 
nate more speedily by thus softening the outer covering and allow- 
ing the mixture to penetrate sooner, &c. In explaining this much- 
contested passage, we have allowed the ordinary pointing to re- 
main, namely, a period after esset ; and have made a new clause 
begin at et, quamvis, &c. Brunck changes et into at, but for this 
there is no necessity, if we give et the meaning of " and yet." We 
have followed, therefore, the plainest and most natural mode of in- 
terpreting the passage, and have made it refer to a process in hus- 
bandry which is still followed at the present day. In so doing, 
however, we have deviated from the great body of commentators, 
who assign to the words in question a very different signification. 
Placing a comma after esset, and a period after maderent, they con- 
nect et quamvis, &c, with what goes before, and, supplying ut after 



248 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

et, translate as follows : " and in order that they might be speedily 
softened (by boiling) through means of a fire, however small," i. e., 
and in order that they might be boiled soft more expeditiously over 
even a small fire. In support of this opinion they refer to Plautus 
(Men., ii., 2, 51. — Pers., i., 3, 12), where madeo has the meaning of 
coquo, and to another passage of the same writer (Men., i., 3, 29), 
where madidus has the force of coctus. They cite also the follow- 
ing remark of Palladius (R. R., xii., 1) : " Grceci asserunt, fabce sem- 

ina nitratd aqua respersa, cocturam non habere difiicilem," 

and they compare with this the language of Didymus in the Geopon- 

ica (ii., 35), Iva Ka?.ol -rrpog ttjv bpncsiv daiv, fip£X e o,vtovc 

vdan fiera virpov. They add, also, that the Greek writers on hus- 
bandry make no mention whatever of steeping seeds in any warm 
preparation. To all this it may be answered, that the language of 
Virgil can hardly be explained by any usage of a comic writer, and 
that, even if the authority of Plautus be allowed in the present case, 
still it proves nothing positively, since he merely employs madeo 
and madidus in the sense of softening or making tender (whence 
comes collaterally that of cooking), a sense that will apply equally 
well to the view that we have here taken of the passage, namely, 
the softening of seeds to enable them to imbibe more readily a mix- 
ture in which they are steeped. As to Palladius and Didymus, 
their remarks are too general to warrant any application of them 
to the present case; and the silence, moreover, of the Greek writers 
on husbandry is, after all, only a negative kind of argument, and, at 
best, quite unsatisfactory. It appears much more natural, too, to 
connect vidi lecta diu, &c, with the previous line, than to make it 
the abrupt commencement of a new sentence. 

197-200. Spectata. "Looked to." Referring to the process of 
steeping, &c. — Vis humana. " Human industry." Imitated from 
Lucretius (v., 208). — Sic. "In this same way." — In pejus ruert. 
" Hasten to decay." The infinitive is here used absolutely for 
the present indicative (with which, therefore, omnia is supposed to 
agree), and refers to what is accustomed to happen. A similar 
usage takes place in referri. (Wagner, Quasi. Virg., xxx., 4 ) — Ac 
retro sublapsa referri. " And having lost, by degrees, their firm foot- 
hold, are carried backward." The literal meaning of sublapsa is, 
" having slipped or slid gradually." — Retro referri. Instances often 
occur where, as in the present case, an adverb, the idea conveyed 
by which is already expressed by a preposition in composition with 
a verb, is made to accompany that verb for the sake of greater em- 
phasis. This is erroneously regarded by some as a kind of pleo- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 249 

nastic usage. (Compare Gronov., ad Liv., xxi., 32, 7. — Ruhnk., ad 
Ter. Ad., iv., 1, 9. — Heusing., ad Vechn. Hcllenolex., p. 163.) 

201-203. Advcrsn flumine subigit. "Impels against the stream." 
Observe the force of sub in composition, as denoting slow and toil- 
some progress. — Lembum. By lembus (he/i6oc) is properly meant a 
small boat with a sharp prow. It was used especially by the Illyri- 
ans. (Schweigh., Ind. Polyb., s. v.) — Brachia. "His sinewy ef- 
forts." — Atque ilium in praxeps, &c. "And (if) the current (once) 
hurries him down the river with headlong speed," i. e., and if the 
current once gets the mastery over him. Some make atque equiv- 
alent here to statim, and translate as follows : " the current (there- 
upon) immediately hurries him down," &c. There is no necessity, 
however, for this. The whole difficulty disappears, if we merely 
supply si after atque, from the previous member of the sentence, 
and regard atque ilium, &c, as intended to complete the idea ex- 
pressed by si brachia forte remisit. 

204-207. Pratcrea. The poet now proceeds to inculcate the ne- 
cessity of an attention to astronomy, that is, to the rising and set- 
ting of certain constellations. This knowledge becomes as im- 
portant to the farmer as to the mariner, since it enables the former 
not only to foresee and prepare against stormy weather, but also 
to ascertain the true seasons for each rural work. — Arcturi sidera. 
" The stars of Arcturus." By Arcturus is properly meant a star of 
the first magnitude in the constellation of Bootes, near the tail of 
the Great Bear, the rising and setting of which were accompanied 
by violent storms, lasting, according to Pliny, for the space of five 
days. Virgil, however, in imitation of some of the earlier writers, 
employs the term here for the whole constellation. (Compare 
Ideler, Sternnamen, p. 47.) — Hcedorum. The "kids," called by the 
Greeks epifoi, are two stars on the arm of Auriga. They also 
brought with them stormy weather. (Manil., i., 372. — Ideler, p. 
94.) — Anguis. The constellation Draco, near the north pole, and 
again referred to at verse 244. It will be observed, that in the enu- 
meration here given of the stormy constellations, the poet names 
merely a few. There were others equally to be dreaded. 

Tarn sunt servandi, &c. "Are to be as carefully observed by us 
as (they are to be by those) by whom," &c, i. e., are to be as care- 
fully watched by the farmer as by the mariner. One peculiarly 
dangerous route by sea is then mentioned, as a type of dangerous 
navigation in general, that, namely, over the surface of the Euxine 
and through the straits of the Hellespont to the iEgean Sea. As 
the mariner on such a route anxiously watches the constellations 



250 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

on high, with equal care ought the husbandman to note their move- 
ments. — In patriam vectis. " While borne homeward," i. e , through 
the Euxine and Hellespont towards the ^Egean Sea. Vectis is here 
equivalent to dum vehuntur. — Pontus. "The Euxine deep." — Os- 
triferi fauces Abydi. The Hellespont, or strait of the Dardanelles. 
is here meant, in the narrowest part of which, on the Asiatic shore, 
and belonging to Mysia, stood the city of Abydos, famed for its 
oysters. — Tentantur. " Are attempted," i. e., are sought to be trav- 
ersed. The term is well selected, as implying danger in the attempt. 

208-211. Libra die, &c. " When the constellation of the Balance 
shall have made the hours of the day and of slumber equal," i. e. t 
the hours of the day and the night. The autumnal equinox is 
meant, and the poet here exemplifies his precept respecting an at- 
tention to the movements of the heavenly bodies, and their connex- 
ion with rural labours. The time which he mentions for sowing 
barley is from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice. In the 
time of Virgil, the former was about the 24th of September, and the 
latter about the 25th of December. With us, barley is sown in the 
spring ; but in warmer climates they sow it at the latter end of the 
year, whence it happens that their barley harvest is considerably 
sooner than their wheat harvest. (Martyn, ad loc.) — Die. Old 
form of the genitive of the 5th declension. The old form of the 
dative has a similar ending. (Schneider, L. G., in., p. 356.) — Et 
medium luci, &c. " And now parcels out one hemisphere unto light 
and (another) unto darkness," i. e., and now divides the world be- 
tween light and darkness. 

Hordea. Servius informs us that Bavius and Maevius censured 
Virgil for employing here the term hordea in the plural, and gave 
vent to their disapprobation in the following line: "Hordea qui 
dixit, superesl ut tritica dicaty As, however, barley is a grain of 
several species, the poet evidently meant to express this variety by 
a bold use of the plural. — Usque sub extremum, &c. " Even up to 
the last shower of the winter solstice, that puts an end to the la- 
bours of the husbandman." Observe the employment of sub to de- 
note close proximity. The poet here recommends that the sowing 
of barley should be kept on while the showery weather of winter 
continues, and before the frost sets in. Still, how r ever, as Pliny 
directs that barley be sown on dry days, Virgil's meaning must be 
that the farmer should avail himself of such days during the period 
here meant, and not sow while the rain was actually descending. 
It must be borne in mind, that in the Italian climate a great part 
of the winter is merely rainy. — Brumce intractabilis. By bruma is 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 251 

here meant the u inter solstice, or the shortest day, which is its 
proper signification, though the term is often applied, poetically, to 
the winter season in general. In explanation of the term intracta- 
lilis, it may be remarked that, according to Varro (R. R., i., 35) 
and Columella (ii., 8), most of the employments of husbandry ceas- 
ed during the fifteen days that preceded the winter solstice and the 
fifteen days that came immediately after. 

212-214. Lint. Columella and Palladius agree with Virgil about 
the time of sowing flax. Pliny, however, says it is sown in the 
spring. In Europe and in this country it is generally sown in the 
spring, from March to May ; sometimes, however, in September 
and October. In a dry and warm country, it is better to sow in au- 
tumn, as the rains of autumn favour its growth, and it acquires 
strength enough to resist the drought, should there happen to be 
any in the spring. On the other hand, in cold and moist countries 
sowing should be deferred until late in the spring, as too much 
moisture is hurtful. — Cercale papaver. " The poppy of Ceres." The 
poppy was sacred to Ceres, the introduction of this plant having 
been ascribed to her ; and her statues were either crowned with it, 
or else represented her holding a few heads of poppy in her right 
hand. (Consult the remarks of Knight, Inquiry into the Symb. Lang., 
&c. — Class. Journ., vol. xxiv., p. 42.) 

Jamdudum. " Straightway ;" literally, " long since," i. e., long 
before receiving this admonition from me. — Aratris. Brunck, 
Wakefield, and Martyn read rastris, as given by some MSS., but 
aratris is clearly preferable. The poet merely intends to repeat an 
injunction respecting seasonable ploughing, not to make any allu- 
sion to harrowing. — Sicca, tellure. " The ground still continuing 
dry." — Pendent. "Hang over as yet," i. e., have not as yet dis- 
charged their contents. 

215-218. Vere fabis satio. None of the ancient writers on agri- 
culture agree with Virgil in his statement that the time for sowing 
beans is the spring. Varro says that they are sown about the lat- 
ter end of October ; while, according to Columella, it is not right 
to sow them after the winter solstice, and the spring is actually the 
worst time of all. This difference of opinion, however, admits of 
a very easy explanation. Virgil has in view the custom prevalent 
in his own native district. In the countries near the Po, beans 
were always sown in the spring, as Pliny expressly informs us 
(xviii., 12, 30), whereas in the more southern parts of Italy the 
autumn was preferred. — Medica. " O Medic plant." Supply herba. 
So in Greek, ij Mz/duj?, scil. -noa. The plant here meant is the Lu- 



252 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

cern, or Burgundy trefoil. It was called Medic, according to Pliny 
(xviii., 16, 43), because brought originally into Greece from Media 
during the war of Darius. — Putres sulci. " The crumbling furrows," 
i. e., rendered friable by frequent ploughing, manuring, and exposure 
to cold. — Et milio venit annua cura. " And its annual care comes 
for the millet." Millet is a coarse, strong grass, bearing heads of 
a fine round seed, a little larger than mustard seed. The plant, 
though coarse, makes good food for horses and cattle, and the seed 
is equally good for them ; it is excellent for fattening poultry, and 
is sometimes made into bread. 

Annua cura. The millet requires planting annually, whereas lu- 
cern, on being once sown, remains in vigour for ten years and upward. 
Compare Plin., xviii., 26, 66, where, for tricems, we must read denis, 
on comparing his language with that of Columella (ii., 9) and Pal- 
ladius (iv., 3). Columella censures Virgil for saying that beans and 
millet are to be sown at the same time. Virgil, however, does not 
mean to be so understood. He merely states that beans are sown 
in the spring, that is, in February or March, and that millet is sown 
when the sun enters Taurus, that is, about the 17th of April, and 
when the Dog-star sets, which is about the end of the same month. 
This agrees with what other authors have said on the subject. 

Candidus auratis, &c. " When the bright Bull opens the year 
with its gilded horns, and the Dog-star sets, giving way to the op- 
posing constellation." The Bull's opening the year expresses the 
sun's entering into Taurus. The commencement of spring is here 
meant, which is, in fact, the opening of the year for the husband- 
man, whence Aprilis, from aperio. The sun, according to Columella, 
entered the sign Taurus of the zodiac on the 15th day before ihe 
calends of May, that is, on the 17th of April. (According to mod- 
ern computation, it is the 20th of April.) In the delineations of the 
zodiac there is a bright star on the point of each horn, whence the 
expression " auratis cornibus." The Bull, advancing with his horns 
lowered, is said, poetically, to open the year with them, and remove 
all intervening obstacles. 

Adverso cedens, &c. According to Columella, the Dog-star sets 
in the evening of the day before the calends of May, that is, the 
last day of April. As this constellation sets on the celestial sphere, 
it has the Bull following after, as it were, with threatening horns, 
whence the epithet of adversus applied to the latter. Observe that 
adverso astro is the dative. Some read averso astro in the ablative, 
referring the words to the Dog-star itself, and translate as follows : 
"retiring with averted constellation," i. e., with its front turned 
away from the advancing bull. This, however, is far inferior. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 253 

219-220. At, si triticeam in tnessem, &c. The triticum of the an- 
cients was not our common wheat, but a bearded sort. The statues 
and medals of Ceres have no other wheat represented on thern but 
that which is bearded. — Farm. Consult note on verse 73. — Solisque 
instabis aristis. " And shall bend your attention to the bearded ears 
alone." The " solce arista," here referred to, stand opposed to what 
is mentioned in verse 227, and the general meaning of the whole 
passage is as follows : If, in the autumnal season, you wish merely 
to sow that kind of grain which produces the bearded ear, you will 
not begin your sowing before the middle of November ; if, howev- 
er, you have determined to sow pulse also, you will then commence 
operations earlier, and at the very beginning of that month. 

221-224. Ante tibi Eoa Atlantides, &c. " Let (the Pleiades), the 
daughters of Atlas, be hidden for you in the morning, and let the 
Gnosian constellation of the blazing Crown depart (from the skies), 
before you intrust," &c. ; literally, "let the morning Pleiades," &c., 
i. e., let the Pleiades set in the morning, or, in other words, let 
them go down below the western horizon at the same time that the 
sun rises above the eastern. The Pleiades, according to mythology, 
were the daughters of Atlas, having been transformed into a cluster 
of stars. (Consult note on verses 138 and 225.) Their setting was 
on the eleventh of November. — Gnosia. The epithet "Gnosian," 
equivalent, in fact, to " Cretan," is here employed in reference to 
Ariadne, daughter of Minos, whose capital in the Island of Crete 
was Gnosus or Cnosus (Kvcoaoc), situate on the northern coast. 
After Ariadne had been abandoned by Theseus on the Island of 
Naxos, Bacchus, who chanced to see her there, became enamoured 
of and married her. At the celebration of their nuptials, all the 
deities made presents to the bride, and Venus gave her a crown, 
which Bacchus translated to the heavens and made a constellation 
of eight stars. 

Decedat. The heliacal setting of the Crown took place on the 
18th or 19th of November. Some refer stella in the text to the 
brightest star in the constellation, and which is the first that sets ; 
but it is better to understand the term here of the entire constella- 
tion. A similar usage occurs in Cicero (de Or., iii., 45), as well as 
in other writers. Some commentators maintain that Virgil means 
here the heliacal rising of the Crown, which took place about the 
middle of October, and, in accordance with this view, give decedat 
the very forced interpretation of "emerge," i. e., depart from, or 
leave the sun's rays. — Invito.. " Reluctant, as yet, to receive it," i. e., 
because it would, in that event, be intrusted too soon to its care. 



254 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

225-229. Multi ante occasum, &c. This and the succeeding line 
are to be taken parenthetically, and assign a reason why early sow- 
ing is to be avoided. By " the setting of Maia" is meant the set- 
ting of the Pleiades, Maia being one of the group. The names of 
the rest were Merope, Celamo, Alcyone, Electra, Sterope, and Ta- 
ygete. — Sed illos exspectata seges, &c. " But the expected crop has 
mocked them with unprofitable wild oats." The MSS. fluctuate 
here between avenis and aristis, and this latter has been received 
by Heinsius, Heyne, and others. Still, however, avenis is far pref- 
erable, and aristis evidently arose from an arbitrary change on the 
part of the copyists, who, not comprehending the force of avenis 
here, altered it to aristis. It appears, however, from Pliny (xviii., 
17, 44), to have been a belief on the part of some, that if one began 
to sow at too early a period, and before the rainy season which 
commenced at the setting of the Pleiades, the seed, weakened by 
long lying in the earth, degenerated into wild oats, or arena. 

Viciam. "The vetch." Pliny (xviii., 15, 37) agrees with Virgil 
in the sowing of the vetch at the beginning of November ; but Col- 
umella (ii., 10, 29) says that it was sown twice annually, once at 
the autumnal equinox, and again in the month of January. — Vilem- 
que phaselum. " And the cheap kidney bean." This species of 
bean is said to have been very common among the Romans, whence 
the epithet here applied to it. It was also called phaseolus, though 
Galen (Alim. fac, i., 35) distinguishes between the two forms. 
Observe that phaselus is more correct than faselus, the Greek ex- 
pressions being <pdan?iog, yaofjoTioc, and (f>aoio?.oc. — Pelusiacce. This 
epithet is here applied to the lentil, on account of the excellent 
quality of those produced in Egypt, of which country Pelusium was 
the key on the northeast. The lentils of Egypt were also as fa- 
mous for their abundance as for their excellence. The large vessel 
in which Caius brought the obelisk from the latter country to Rome 
had 120,000 modii of lentils for ballast. — Cadens Bootes. " Bootes 
when setting." The constellation of Bootes set, according to the 
ancient writers, on the day before the calends of November, that 
is, on the last day of October. The sowing of vetches, kidney 
beans, lentils, &c, is then to begin. 

231-232. Idcirco. " For this purpose." The poet here supposes 
the sun to make his annual journey through the heavens, and to di- 
vide the year into distinct portions, in order to mark more clearly 
the different periods of rural labour ; in other words, the sun trav- 
els through the sky for the sake and in honour of agriculture. The 
bard then embraces this occasion to describe the five zones, the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 1255 

zodiac, the northern pole, and the gloomy antipodes. — Orbem. " The 
circle of the year." Supply annuum. — Per duodena mundi aslra. 
"As he moves through the twelve constellations of the sky." Mun- 
dus here denotes the vault of heaven, through which the sun was 
supposed to move ; and the twelve constellations of the sky are the 
twelve signs of the zodiac. The position of orbem forbids our join- 
ing it in construction, as some do, with mundi. 

Quinquc tcnent caelum zona. The ancient geographers, from the 
time of Eudoxus to that of Posidonius, divided the circuit of the 
world, and therefore also each meridian, into 60 parts, each one of 
which was equal to six of our degrees. The four quarters of this 
great circle, containing respectively 15 parts, they subdivided each 
into 4, 5, and 6 parts, commencing this subdivision at the equator, 
and running on towards the poles. The first of these subdivisions, 
namely, the 4 parts, or £4 degrees, on each side of the equator, ex- 
tended in either direction to the tropics, and formed in their com- 
bined extent the torrid zone. The next subdivision, namely, the 
5 parts, or 30 degrees, formed the temperate zone in either hemi- 
sphere, extending on one side as far as the polar circle, or constel- 
lation of the Bear, and on the other as far as the antarctic circle. 
The remaining subdivision of 6 parts, or 36 degrees, from the 54th 
to the 90th degree, and lying on the side of the temperate zone in 
either hemisphere, belonged to the frozen zones. At a later day, 
namely, from the time of Posidonius, the boundaries of the two 
temperate zones were carried forward towards the poles, so that 
now the temperate zones consisted each of 7 parts, and reached to 
the 66th degree, while the torrid zone and the two frigid ones con- 
tained each 4 parts. Virgil imitates in his account Eratosthenes. 

Corusco sole rubens. The torrid zone is called " red" by both 
Eratosthenes and Virgil, and the frigid zones " blue." This either 
had reference to the natural colour of fire and ice respectively, or, 
more properly, as Voss suspects, and Claudian (xxxiii., 244) seems 
to hint, to the red and blue colours employed to represent the torrid 
and frigid zones respectively on the geographical charts of the an- 
cients. — Et torrida semper ab igni. " And ever parched by its fiery 
beams." The ancients thought the torrid zone uninhabitable, on 
account of excessive heat. It contains, on the contrary, a great 
part of Asia, Africa, and South America. Owing to the nature and 
situation of the countries in this zone, the heat is not everywhere 
the same. The warmest portions are the sandy deserts of Africa : 
far more temperate are the happy islands of the South seas, and 
still milder is the climate of Peru. This last country contains 



256 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

mountains from the summits of which the vertical sunbeams never 
melt the perpetual snow. 

Quam circum, &c. " Along this are extended two farthest ones, 
on the right hand and on the left." These are the two frigid zones, 
and by " right hand and left" are meant respectively the two por- 
tions of the sphere between the north and south temperate zones 
and the poles. — Concrete. "Stiff." This term applies more par- 
ticularly to caruled glade, but still refers in some degree also to the 
idea of hail as an accompaniment of " gloomy showers." 

Du<z. The two temperate zones. — Mgris. " Unhappy." (Com- 
pare the Homeric deiTioiai fipoTolct.) — Et via secta per ambas. " And 
a path has been cut between them." The allusion is to the zodiac, 
an imaginary ring or broad circle in the heavens, in the form of a 
belt or girdle, spreading about five or six degrees on each side of 
the ecliptic, and containing the twelve constellations or signs. — 
Per ambas. Observe here the usage of per for inter, and compare a 
similar usage in verse 245. The sun does not move through any 
part of the temperate zones, his extreme northern and southern 
limits being the two tropics. 

240-241. Mundus, ut ad Scythiam, &c. Virgil speaks here of the 
two poles of the world. He makes the north pole to be the eleva- 
ted one, because that only is visible in these parts of the earth ; 
and for the same reason he speaks of the south pole as being de- 
pressed. Observe that mundus here, though to be rendered " the 
world," is yet equivalent, in fact, to caelum, " the sky." — Scythiam. 
By Scythia is here meant, in poetic phraseology, all the more north- 
ern parts of Europe and Asia. (Compare Georg., iii., 349 ) — Rhipce- 
asque arces. " And the Rhipaean summits," i. e., the Rhipaean 
Mountains. The term arx is employed to denote any lofty eleva- 
tion, and, among others, even the summits of mountains and mount- 
ain-chains. The Rhipaean Mountains probably existed only in the 
imaginations of the ancient geographers and poets. If, however, 
*«hey had an actual existence, they would seem to have been the 
same with the chain that separates Russia from Siberia. — Premitur 
Libya devexus in Austros. " So, sloping downward, is it depressed 
towards the southern regions of Africa," i. e., it is depressed towards 
the south pole, just as it is elevated towards the north. — Austros. 
The southern gales are here taken figuratively for the regions of 
the south. 

242-243. Hie vertex. " This pole." The north pole is meant. 
Observe the force of hie in denoting proximity — Nobis semper sub- 
limit. " Is always on high for us," i. e , is always above our heads. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 257 

The inhabitants of the northern temperate zone are here meant. — 
At ilium, sub paiibus, &c. " But the other, beneath our feet, the 
dark Styx beholds, and the manes far below," i. e., the other, which 
is beneath our feet. We have adopted here the punctuation of 
Wakefield (a comma after ilium, and another after pcdibus), which 
appears to give the most natural sense. Some, however, connect 
sub pedibus with Styx, and translate, " the dark Styx beneath our 
feet;" while others render, "the dark Styx beholds beneath its 
feet." — Profundi Voss regards this as a genitive, and translates 
"die Geister der Tiefe." It is far preferable, however, to consider 
it an epithet. 

244-251. Hie. At the north pole. — Anguis. The constellation 
Draco, wh'ch is represented as winding between the Great and 
Little Bears.— Circum, perque. " Around and between." (Com- 
pare, as regards the force of per in this clause, the note on verse 
238.) — Arctos Oceani mctuentes, &c. " The Bears fearing to be dip- 
ped in the waters of the Ocean," i. e., the Bears which never set. 
— Illic. At the south pole. — Ut perhibent. "As they affirm," i. e., 
as some maintain. Martyn thinks that Virgil here alludes to an 
opinion of Epicurus, that the sun might possibly revive and perish 
every day ; admitting which opinion, there can be no antipodes, 
nor can the sun go to lighten another hemisphere. There is, how- 
ever, a fatal objection to this view, namely, that Epicurus was not 
a believer in the globular form of the earth, nor, of course, in a 
southern hemisphere. — Aut intempesta silet nox. "Either deepest 
night is silent," i. e., either the silence of deepest night prevails. 
Intempesta vox properly means " unseasonable night," i. e., that part 
of the night which is peculiarly unfitted for any employment ; and 
hence " darkest night," " the depth of night," " midnight," &c. 
Compare Varro (L. L., vi., 7), " Intempestam [noctem] AJlius dicebat 
quom tempus agendi nullum est ;" and Servius (ad Mn., iii., 587), 
"Nox intempesta dicta est media, .... inactuosa" &c. Compare, 
also, the explanation of Schiitz (Ind. Cic. Lat.), " Quum intempesta 
nox esseV (Cic. Phil., i., 3), "da es schon tief in der Nacht war;" 
and likewise that of Schmalfeld (Latein. Synon., p. 249), "Intem- 
pesta nox," " die Zeit wenn Nacht schon stockfinster ist." 

Semper obtenld densantur nocte. " Is ever thickened by the over- 
spread pall of night." We have placed a comma after nox in 
the previous line, and have thus connected semper with what comes 
after. Wunderlich and Jahn, however, remove the comma, and 
thus make semper belong to intempesta silet nox; but this wants 
spirit. — Densentur. We have given here the old form of the prea- 
Y2 



258 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

ent, from denseo, -ere. The MSS. vary between this and densantur, 
the ordinary form ; and this latter one is retained by Heyne, and 
approved by Wagner. Heinsius, however, maintains that, wher- 
ever there is a choice, densentur ought to be preferred. — Redit a no- 
bis. " Returns from us (to them)," i. e., to those regions near the 
south pole. — Oriens. Supply sol. — Equis afflavit anhelis. The breath- 
ing of the panting steeds of the sun is here poetically put for the 
breeze at sunrise. — Illic sera rubens, &c. " There the blushing 
evening kindles up her late fires/' i. e., the constellations of the sky. 
Some, with less propriety, make Vesper to be the same with Hes- 
perus, or the evening star ; and as this is the first that appears, the 
bard, according to them, poetically describes this star as kindling 
up the other luminaries of the night. The epithet rubens, however, 
militates against this, and points rather to the evening red, or col- 
our of sunset. (Voss, ad loc.) 

252-256. Hinc tempestatcs, &c. " Hence we have it in our power 
to ascertain beforehand the changes of season and of weather, even 
while the sky is still doubtful," i. e., from the approach or departure 
of the sun in the zodiac, we can tell beforehand the changes of sea- 
son, and the changes of weather also that are connected with these, 
even while the sky as yet gives no certain indication of such change. 
Observe here the peculiar force of tempestates Y and. the double idea 
involved in it. — Mcssisque diem. Alluding to the change from spring 
to summer. — Tempusque screndi. Autumn and winter as succeed- 
ing to summer. — Et quando infcdum, &c. The change from winter 
to spring, when navigation commenced with the rising of the Plei- 
ades. — Infidum marmor. " The bright but faithless surface of the 
deep." The term marmor is here applied to the sea, not with any 
reference to solidity, but as indicating a bright and polished surface. 
(Consult note on Mn., vii., 28.) 

Quando armatas, &c. " When to launch the well-equipped fleets." 
The reference is here not to vessels of war, with which, of course, 
agriculture has no connexion, but to fleets of traders, carrying to 
other and distant lands the agricultural products of that from which 
they sail. Hence armata. is to be taken here in the sense of " fitted 
for sea," and may be compared with a similar usage in the case of 
the Greek uir7uajj.£vaL. — Dcducere. Literally, "to drawdown," as 
referring to the ancient custom of drawing up vessels on shore at 
the end of a voyage, and of drawing them down again to the sea 
on recommencing naval operations. — Tempeslivam evertere. " To 
fell in due season," i. e., for naval timber, &c. 

257-262. Necfrustra, &c. The poet still farther enlarges upon 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 259 

the importance of a knowledge of astronomy to the husbandman. 
This knowledge, however, as Voss conjectures, was to be obtain- 
ed not so much from actual observation, as from rustic calendars 
constructed from the astronomical tables of Eudoxus, Meton, and 
others. — Par em. "Equally divided." — Continet. "Keeps within 
doors." — Multa maturare. " To do many things in proper season," 
i. c, at leisure and in due season. Observe that maturare is " to do 
that for which it is the proper time ;" but propcrare is " to do a thing 
in a hurry." — Forcnt properanda. "Would have to be done in 
haste." — Durum dentem. "The hard, tooth like point." — Lintres. 
" Wooden vessels." Under this general designation are included 
all kinds of wooden-ware accustomed to be used in and around a 
farmer's abode, as also troughs for watering cattle, vessels for 
holding grapes, meal-tubs, &c. Some commentators, however, 
give a very different meaning to lintres, and make it signify " wher- 
ries," on the supposition that such would be needed in the country 
adjacent to the Po during the inundations of that river. This, al- 
though the primitive meaning of linter, seems far less natural here 
than the one which we have adopted. 

263-265. Pecori signum. The way of marking cattle was by 
burning with liquid pitch, or tar. The mark was usually the mas- 
ter's name. This operation was commonly performed at the close 
of January and April. (Columell., vii., 9. — Id., xi., 2, 14, and 38.) 
— Aut numcros impressit acervis. This was done by means of tick- 
ets or tallies affixed to the several heaps of grain, distinguishing 
the quantities and qualities of each. (Serv., ad loc.) — Vallos, furcas- 
que bicornes. " Stakes and two-pronged forks." These would be 
of use as props for the vines. They are among the number of 
those things which Columella directs the husbandmen to prepare 
during the winter season, when they were prevented from pursuing 
other work. (Colum., xi., 2 ) — Atque Amerina parant, &c. "And 
prepare the Amerian (willow) bands for the bending vine," i. e., 
prepare the willow twigs of Ameria to bind the vine. The best 
willows in Italy grew at Ameria, a city of Umbria, south of Tuder, 
and in the vicinity of the Tiber. (Colum., iv., 30.) 

266-268. Nunc facilis rubed, &c. " Now let the light basket be 
woven of the bramble twig." Servius thinks that by rubed virgd is 
meant such twigs as grow about Rubi, a town of Apulia, between 
Canusium and Barium. But, in the first place, no mention is any- 
where made of this town's being celebrated for willows or osiers, 
and, in the next place, if the meaning of Servius were actually the 
true one, rubed in that event must be written rubid. — Nunc torrete 



260 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

igni, &c. Before the invention of mills impelled by wind or water, 
when reducing the grain to meal was a domestic manufacture, this 
operation was facilitated hy slightly parching the grain. (Valpy, 
ad he.) — Nunc frangite saxo. " Now break it with the stone," i. e., 
now grind it. 

268-275. Quippe eliam, &c. " Nay, human and divine laws per- 
mit your carrying on certain works even on sacred days." Quippe, 
literally, has here the force of quum, "since," and the connexion 
in the train of thought is as follows : Be not surprised at my recom- 
mending to the husbandmen to pursue certain labours within doors 
during rainy weather ; since there are certain works that one may 
and ought to attend to even on sacred days. — Rivos deducere. "To 
clear the channels," i. e., the channels or trenches that serve to ir- 
rigate the fields, or else to drain the meadows. Compare the lan- 
guage of Macrobius (Sat., iii., 3), " Quod autem Virgilius ait deducere, 
nihil aliud est quam detergere ; nam festis diebus rivos veteres sordidatos 
detergere licet, novos facere non licet." — Nulla rcligio. "No precept 
of religion." 

Segeti pratendere sepem. According to Columella, however, this 
was forbidden by the Roman priests : " Quarnquam pontifices negent 
segetem feriis sepiri debere." (Colum., ii., 22.) — Avibus. Destruc- 
tive birds, as Voss remarks, alone are meant. (Compare verse 
119.) — Balantumquc gregem, &c. It was allowed, on a sacred day, 
to immerse the sheep in water, if their health required it ; but not 
to do this merely for the sake of cleansing the fleece. Hence the 
peculiar propriety of salubri, on the present occasion, as an epithet 
offluvio. Observe, also, the skilful employment of balantum, it being 
well known that sheep make a great bleating when they are washed. 

Scepe oleo tardi, &c. The rustics, busily employed at other times 
in the culture of their little farms, were allowed on sacred days to 
carry oil and fruit to market, and to bring back such articles as 
their immediate wants required. — Agitator. The rustic himself is 
meant, not a mere asinarius. — Vilibus. " Cheap." — Lapidem incu- 
sum. "The indented millstone," i. e., the stone to be used in do- 
mestic grinding. On this the surface was slightly chiselled and 
furrowed to catch and break the grain. (Valpy, ad he.) — Picis. 
The pitch would be wanted for coating vessels ; and, besides this, it 
was thrown into the boiling must to improve the taste of the wine. 

276-280. Ipsa dies alios, &c. " The moon herself has given dif- 
ferent days in different order auspicious for work." The poet now 
proceeds to give an account of those days of the month which were 
reckoned either lucky or unlucky by the ancients, and in this takes 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 261 

Hesiod (Op. et. D., 765, scqq.) for his chief authority. — Quintam. 
Supply diem. Voss, on account of quintam here in the feminine, 
reads alias in the previous line ; hut he forgets the following verse 
of Tibullus, where the two genders meet : " Venit post multos una 
serena dies." (iii., 6, 32.) — Orcus. " Orcus." We must not con- 
found this deity with Pluto, as many have done. Orcus is the oath 
personified, and the son of Eris. He is the divinity, therefore, who 
punishes the false and perjured. (Hes., Op. et D., 804.) — Eumeni- 
desque satce. Hesiod does not say that the Furies were born on 
this day, as Virgil here narrates, but merely that they then go about 
to punish the wicked. Though the account of lucky and unlucky 
days here given by the Roman poet is imitated from that of Hesiod, 
yet the former deviates in many particulars from the latter. One 
of the most important is the following : Virgil says, " Avoid the 
fifth," meaning evidently the fifth day of the lunar month ; but 
Hesiod has it, "Avoid the fifths" (irefiirrac h^aleaadaL), i. e., every 
fifth day, meaning the fifth day of each decade of the month of 
thirty days, or, in other words, the 5th, 15th, and 25th days of each 
month. (Voss, ad Joe.) As regards the unlucky character of the 
number 5, consult Gottling's note on Hesiod (Op. et D., 803). 

Partu nefando. " By an unholy birth." — Great. Not for creavit, 
as Heyne maintains, but the simple present, employed purposely to 
impart more animation to the clause. (Compare Eclog., viii., 45. 
— Wagner, ad El. ad Messal., p. 27, seq.) — Cozumque Iapetumque. 
Cceus and Iapetus belonged to the Titan race. They were the 
sons of Uranus and Gaea (Heaven and Earth), and brothers of Cro- 
nus, or Saturn, and were, together with the other Titans, hurled 
down to Tartarus by Jupiter. — Typhoea. Typhoeus, or Typhon, was 
a monster with a hundred dragon heads, whom Earth bore to Tar- 
tarus. He was confined by Jupiter under the Island of Sicily. — 
Fratres. Otus and Ephialtes, the giant sons of Aloeus, or, more 
correctly, of Neptune and Canace. They undertook to make war 
upon heaven, with the intention of dethroning Jupiter, and, in or- 
der to reach the skies, piled Mount Ossa upon Pelion, and Olympus 
upon Ossa. — Rcscindere. " To tear down." 

281-283. Ter sunt conati, &c. Observe how skilfully the line is 
constructed, in order that its slow and toilsome march may make 
the sound an echo to the sense. — Scilicet atque Ossa, &c. "Ay, 
and to roll up on Ossa the leafy Olympus." We have placed a 
comma after Ossam in the previous line, and have thus connected 
scilicet with the present verse, giving it the force of a strong affirm- 
ation blended with bitter irony. A similar usage occcurs at verse 



262 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK I. 

493. — Frondosum. The Homeric hvoaiQvtJXov. Virgil's account is 
imitated from the Odyssey (xi., 315, seqq.). — Ter pater exstructos, 
&c. This legend of the war between the giants and the gods ap- 
pears to have originated, from the appearance of things, after an 
earthquake had torn asunder Ossa from Olympus, and had strewn 
the intervening valley with fragments of rock. — Disjecit. " Scat- 
tered." 

284-286. Septima post decimam. " The seventeenth," i. e. (to 
adopt the Greek mode of computation), the seventh day after the 
first decade. (Compare note on verse 278.) Some, however, trans- 
late, " the seventh, next to the tenth," i. e., the seventh in the next 
less degree after the tenth ; but compare Manilius (iv., 449), where 
tertia post decimam stands for " thirteenth," and (v. 462) where sep- 
tima post decimam stands for "seventeenth." — Ponere vitem. "To 
set out the vine." — Et licia tela addere. " And to annex the leashes 
to the warp," i. e., to begin to weave. (Consult Diet. Antiq., An- 
thonys ed., p. 955, a.) — Nona fug <z mclior, &c. The ninth day would 
be favourable for the runaway, since the moon would then be of 
sufficient age to give a good light, and help him on his way. For 
this very reason, on the other hand, it would be unfavourable for 
the thief, who prefers darkness. (Voss, ad he.) 

287-290. Multa adeo, &c. "Many things, too, have succeeded 
better during the cool night." The poet now proceeds to mention 
what sort of works are to be done in the cool night, or early in the 
morning, both in winter and summer. — Dedere. There is no neces- 
sity whatever for our regarding this as the aorist (dare solenl). It 
comes in more naturally as the simple perfect. — Sole novo. "At 
sunrise." — Eoils. "The morning star," put here for morning itself. 
The term is of Greek origin ('Euof, scil. ao-rip) — Leves stipules. 
The Roman husbandmen were accustomed to mow their grain in 
such a way as to leave one half of the stalk standing in the ground. 
These half stalks were called stipules, " stubble," and were either 
burned, for the purpose of fertilizing the soil,' or else were cut down 
in the month of August, about thirty days after harvest. This stub- 
ble was better cut by night, since it was then moistened and soft- 
ened by the dew\ (Columell, vi , 3, 1. — Id., xi., 2, 54. — Varro, i., 
50, &c.) — Nodes lentus non deficit, &c. " The clammy dew fails not 
the hours of the night," i. e., abandons not the night. Some read 
noctis in the genitive, and make it depend on humor, explaining the 
clause as follows : " Noctis humor non deficit, scil. tondentes ;" but 
Fabricius correctly remarks, in condemnation of this, " Nocti pro- 
prium est, ut sit humida ; non igitur humor noctis; sed humor non 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 263 

deficit nodes." Pliny observes, that a dewy night is fittest for mow- 
ing. He also mentions the practice of watering the meadows the 
day before cutting; to facilitate the labour probably (xviii., 27). 
The Romans commonly cut their meadows twice : the grass was 
cut before it withered, by which means the hay was more succu- 
lent, and the meadow less exhausted. 

291-292. Seros hiberni ad luminis, &c. " Sits up by the late fires 
of winter light," i. e., the fires that afford light during the nights of 
winter. The freer version would be, " sits up late by the light of a 
winter fire." The light that aids the rustic in his work comes from 
the logs that lie blazing on the hearth ; and hence the peculiar 
beauty of the expression luminis ignes, " fires of light," i. e., afford- 
ing light, the reference being now more to light than to purposes 
of warmth. — Faces inspicat. " Points torches." These would be 
used principally for going abroad after sunset. The kind here 
meant consisted of a single piece of wood, pointed and bearded at 
the end in imitation of an ear of grain (spica). They were com- 
monly made of resinous wood, or else were coated with wax and 
tipped with sulphur. Another species of torch was made of wood- 
en staves, or twigs, either bound by a rope drawn round them in a 
spiral form, or surrounded by circular bands at equal distances. 
The inside of this kind of torch may be supposed to have been filled 
with flax, tow, or other vegetable fibres, the whole being abundantly 
impregnated with pitch, rosin, wax, oil, and other inflammable sub- 
stances. 

294-296. Arguto conjux, &c. Consult note on Mn., vii., 14. — 
Aut dulcis rnusti, &c. " Or boils down over the fire the liquor of 
the sweet must." Must is the new wine before it is fermented. 
We find in Columella, that it was usual to boil some of the must 
till a fourth part, or a third, or even sometimes half, was evapora- 
ted. The use of this boiled must was to put it into some sorts of 
wine to make them keep. Columella expressly directs the sweet- 
est must to be employed for this purpose, so that dulcis here is no 
idle epithet. (Colum., xii., 19, scqq. — Martyn, ad loc.) — Vulca.no. 
The fire-god put figuratively for fire itself. — Undam trepidi aheni. 
"The wave of the tremulous caldron." The boiling must would 
resemble the waves of the sea, and the motion of the liquor would 
be communicated to the vessel itself. The term aheni, as employed 
here, would denote an ordinary vessel of bronze (copper and tin). 
Columella, however, recommends that leaden ones be employed to 
prevent the formation of oerugo. {Colum., xii., 20.) 

297-298. At rubicunda Ceres, &c. " But the reddened grain is 



264 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 



cut down in the midst of the heat of day." From the mention of 
works to be done in the night, the poet now passes to those which 
are to be performed in the daytime. The epithet rubicunda is here 
applied to the ripened grain, just as Jlavis is in verse 316. The 
colour meant in either case is a blending of red and yellow. — Medio 
astu. The true signification of these words has been very strange- 
ly mistaken by many. The meaning is neither "in the midst of 
the summer's heat," since such advice would certainly be superflu- 
ous, nor "during the heat of midday," for at that very time the 
reapers are at rest ; but the idea is simply this, that, as other works 
succeed better during the coolness of the night,, or of early morn- 
ing, so reaping is better performed during the heat of day. — Sued- 
diiur. This term has here a special reference to the mode of reap- 
ing, the grain being cut off close under the ear, and a large portion 
of the stalk being consequently left in the ground. (Compare note 
on verse 289.) — Tostas. " Parched," i. e., by the heat, or, as Colu- 
mella expresses it, " opportunis solibus torrcfacla" (ii., 21). 

299-304. Nudus ara, &c. " Plough in thin attire, sow in thin at- 
tire," i. c, do your ploughing and sowing in the warm part of the 
day, when but little clothing will be required. The poet, it will be 
remembered, speaks of ploughing and sowing, in a previous pass- 
age (v. 210), as commencing at the autumnal equinox. We must 
be careful here not to regard nudus as implying absolute naked- 
ness. It merely denotes one, on the present occasion, who wears 
only his tunic or indutus. In this state of comparative nudity the 
ancients performed the operations of ploughing, sowing, and reap- 
ing. Cincinnatus was found thus thinly attired when he was called 
to be dictator, and sent for his toga, that he might appear before the 
senate. The accompanying wood-cut is taken from an antique gem 
in the Florentine collection, and shows a man ploughing in his tu- 
nic only. 




Ignava. " Is a season of indolence." The part of the winter 
season here particularly alluded to consisted of the fifteen days 



1 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 265 

both before and after the winter solstice (Compare note on verse 
211.) — Parto. "What they have acquired," i. c, the stores previ- 
ously laid up. — Curant. "Turn all their attention to." — Genialis 
hicms. "The genial winter," i. e., the proper season of festivity. 
December was the month held sacred to each one's genius, and it 
was then, in particular, when the labours of the year were brought 
to a close, that the genius was propitiated by festal relaxation. 
(Orid, Fast., iii., 58 ) — Presses carina. " The heavily-laden barks." 

— Coronas. On the arrival and departure of vessels, garlands were 
hung at the stern, the images of the tutelary deities being kept 
there. This line occurs again at Mn., iv., 418. 

305-310. Sed tamen, &c. Although winter is the season of inac- 
tivity, still certain things are to be attended to even then, and these 
the poet now proceeds to specify. — Quernas glandes. "Acorns." 
The epithet quernas is by no means an idle one here. The Romans 
used the word glans in a general sense, to indicate the fruit of the 
beech, oak, or other forest-trees. — Stringere. " To strip off," i. e., 
to gather. Voss is wrong in maintaining that stringere applies 
properly to acorns merely, and cannot be extended to bay-berries, 
olives, &c., except by a zeugma. The authorities in opposition to 
this are, Cato, R. R., 65 ; Varro, R. R, i., 55 ; Columell., xii., 38, 7. 

— Cruentaque myrta. Myrtle-berries are here called cruenta, from 
their vinous juice. Bay-berries, and those of the wild myrtle, were 
employed to communicate flavour to some species of wines, and to 
oil. From the end of October to January was the season for ma- 
king oil. (Voss, ad loc. — Columell., xi., 2, 83, &c. — Valpy, ad loc.) 

Stuppea torquenlem, &c. " Whirling the hempen thongs of the 
Balearic sling," i. e., causing the sling to revolve many times round 
his head, in order to increase the force of the blow. Observe that 
torquentem agrees in the accusative with eum understood before 
figere, and that this eum is in apposition with colonum, understood 
before stringere. — Balearis. The inhabitants of the Balearic islands, 
now Majorca and Minorca, were celebrated for their skill in sling- 
ing, and hence the epithet " Balearic" becomes an ornamental one 
for the sling itself. 

311-315. Quid tempeslates, &c. The poet, after briefly alluding 
to the two stormy seasons of the year, .namely, autumn and spring, 
proceeds to give a very graphic picture of a storm in harvest-time. 
— Sidera. The stormy constellations of autumn are, according to 
Columella, Arcturus, rising on the 12th of September ; the Centaur, 
rising on the 23d of the same month ; the Kids, rising on the 27th ; 
and the Crown, on the 5th of the following month. The risings of 

2 



266 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

all of these brought stormy weather. — Atque, ubi jam, &e. " And 
of the vigilance that is to be exercised by the husbandmen, when 
now both the day is shorter and the summer heat more moderate." 
We have here only another description of autumn, when the nights 
begin to lengthen and the heat to diminish. The Roman autumn 
began on the 12th of August, when the constellation of the Lyre 
set, and continued until the 9th of November, when the sword of 
Orion set, and winter began. 

Ruit. " Rushes down." Voss makes this signify, " when spring 
closes," while Wunderlich explains it by "festinat." Both, how- 
ever, appear to be in error. The term would seem to refer rather 
to the heavy rains of spring. — Spicea jam campis, &c. " When 
now the bearded harvest has begun to bristle in the fields." — Et 
quum. Virgil often adopts this mode of beginning a new clause in 
the sixth foot of an hexameter, when he repeats the same particle 
which he has previously employed. — Lactentia. "Milky;" more 
literally, " filling itself with milk." — Stipuld. " The stem." Used 
here for culmus. 

317-321. Et fragilijam stringeret, &c. "And was now proceed- 
ing to reap the barley with its fragile stalk." The expression fragili 
hordea culmo is merely ornamental for hordea alone. The barley 
harvest preceded that of the other grain, and took place in June, 
towards the end of the month, when the fire-flies began to appear. 
(Pallad., vii., 2.—Plin., H. N., xviii., 66.) — Stringeret. Literally, 
"was grasping." The term appears to be descriptive here of the 
reapers grasping the corn for the purpose of cutting. — Expulsam 
eruerent. "Would tear up and toss." — Ita turbine nigro, &c. " In 
this same way would a winter-storm bear onward in dark whirl- 
wind," &c. The meaning is simply this, that the storm here de- 
scribed would uproot the heavy grain, and toss it far and wide on 
high, with as much ease as one sees a winter tempest bear before 
it the light pieces of straw and the flying stubble. 

322-327. Immensum agmen aquarum. " An immense march of 
waters." — Ex alio. "From on high." This is Heyne's explana- 
tion, and much more natural than that of Voss, " from the deep," 
in which the change is "too abrupt. — Ruit arduus ather. " The lofty 
sky rushes down," i. e., the very cataracts of heaven seem to be 
opened, and the sky itself to descend. — Et pluvid ingenti, &c. " And 
washes away with a deluge of rain the joyous crops and the labours 
of the oxen," i. e., and all the fair results of the toilsome labours 
of husbandry. (Compare the epya fioQv of Hesiod, Op. et D., 46.) 
— Cava flumina. " The hollow rivers." By these are meant 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 267 

mountain streams, which, during the heats of summer, have their 
volume of water diminished, and flow between high rocky banks. 
They now " swell" with the accessions of the storm. — Fervetque 
fretis, &c. ** And the surface of ocean boils with its panting and 
agitated waters." Observe that freta is here used in a general 
sense for the stormy waters of the sea at large, not merely for those 
confined within narrow straits. 

328-331. Media nimbonvm in nocte. "Amid a night of storm- 
clouds." Nimbus is a dark thunder-cloud. — Molitur. "Brandish- 
es." This verb always carries with it the idea of an energetic ex- 
ercise of power. Virgil, on the present occasion, appears to imitate 
Lucretius, where the same expression is found, (vi., 252. Com- 
pare 254.) — Quo mot u. "At which movement (of the godhead)." 
— Fugerefera. "The wild beasts have fled." Observe the pecu- 
liar use of the perfect in denoting an instantaneous action. In other 
words, it is employed aoristically, the interval between the begin- 
ning and the end of the action being so brief as to be regarded 
merely as a single point of time. The tense, therefore, is here 
strikingly expressive of alarm, and, as the consequence of this, of 
rapid flight. — Humilis pavor. " Lowly fear," i. e., making its pos- 
sessor entertain lowly and humble feelings. 

332-334. Atho. Greek form of the accusative. (Compare Theoc, 
vii., 77, fi 'Ado, ij 'Podo-av, i) Kavaaaov ecr^arotvra.) The weight of 
MSS. authority, however, is in favour of Athon. Still the reading 
Atho is commonly retained in the editions. Athos was a celebra- 
ted mountain -peninsula of Macedonia, between the Strymonian 
and Singitic Gulfs. It is now Monte Santo. — Rhodopen. Consult 
note on Eclog., vi., 30. — Ceraunia. " Ceraunian heights." The 
Ceraunii or Acroceraunii Montes (in Greek Kepavvta or ' AnpoKepav- 
via, scil. 5pn) were a chain of mountains stretching along the coast 
of Northern Epirus, and forming part of the boundary between it 
and Illyricum. That portion of the chain which extended beyond 
Oricum formed a bold promontory, and was specially termed Acro- 
ceraunia, from its summits (a/cpa) being often struck by lightning 
(nepavvog). — Austri. In Italy the south wind brings most frequent 
rain. — Plangunt. " Moan." Plangere properly means " to strike," 
i. e., as an indication of mourning, and is generally applied to those 
who beat their bosoms, &c, in token of excessive grief. By a bold 
but beautiful personification, it is here applied to the groves and the 
shore, as moaning beneath the lashings of the tempest. 

335-337. Hoc metuens. After this description of a tempest, the 
poet proposes two methods of avoiding such misfortunes : one, by 



268 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

a careful observation of the heavens ; the other, by a proper wor- 
ship of the gods, especially of Ceres, the patroness of husbandry. 
— Cazli menses el sidera serva. " Observe the months of the sky and 
the constellations." By " the months of the sky" are meant the 
twelve signs of the zodiac, through each of which the sun is about 
a month in passing. By "the constellations," on the other hand, 
are meant those which are accompanied by a change of weather at 
their rising or setting. The precept given by the poet is then as 
follows : Mark not only in what one of the twelve signs the sun 
may be at the time ; but observe, also, how the case stands with re- 
gard to those constellations that have an influence on the weather, 
as to their being near their rising or their setting. Mark, too, he 
adds, the position of the planets, in what sign of the zodiac they 
may be, or with what other stars they may be in conjunction. In 
speaking of the planets, moreover, he selects two as representa- 
tives of the rest, one, namely, Saturn, the most remote from the sun, 
and having the longest revolution to make ; and the other, Mercury, 
the nearest to the sun, and having the shortest circuit, if we except 
the moon. 

Frigida. Because so remote from the sun. — Sese receptet. In what 
sign of the zodiac, or with what star in conjunction. Saturn, when 
in Capricorn, brought very heavy rains in Italy ; in Scorpio, hail ; 
in other signs, thunderings ; in others, storms of wind. — Quos ignis 
caelo, &c. " Into what circuits the Cyllenian fire may be wander- 
ing in the sky." We have adopted ccelo, with Voss and others, as 
preferable to the common reading cadi. — Ignis Cyllenius. Mercury 
is here meant, who was fabled to have been born on Mount Cyllene 
in Arcadia, on the confines of Achaia. This star is here called tgnis, 
on account of its brightness, just as it was denominated in Greek 
6 oTi?.6u>v, " the brilliant one." — Orbes. The meaning is, not with 
what other planets Mercury may be in conjunction, but in what 
one of his own circuits he may be at the time, for in his rapid course 
he would make many circuits, while Saturn, for example, would be 
performing but one. (Compare Wagner, ad loc.) — Erret. The term 
planet (nXavTJrnc) is derived from irlavda, " to wander." 

338-342. Annua magna'., &c. " Repeat the annual rites unto the 
great Ceres, sacrificing on the joyous herbage." The poet here 
alludes to the Ambarvalia, a festival in honour of Ceres, and which 
was so called because the victim was led around the fields (quod 
victima ambiret arva) before it was sacrificed. In verse 345, Virgil 
mentions its being led three times around. — Refer. Observe the 
employment of this verb here to denote the performance of an act 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 269 

recurring at stated intervals. (Wundcrlich, ad Georg., t, 249.) — 
Operatus. For operans. Deponent verbs often employ the perfect 
participle as a present one. (Compare Wagner, Quast. Virg., 
xxviiii., 3) — Extrem.ee sub casum hiemis. "Just at the expiration 
of the last days of winter." The time for the sacrifice in question 
was about the 22d of April, when the Pleiades rose, and brought 
with them a more constant warmth. — Mollissima vina. The wine 
would now be mellowed down, having passed through the winter 
season. — Somni dulces. The slumbers of the shepherds are meant, 
on the woody mountains, unto which they drove their flocks at the 
rising of the Pleiades. (Voss, ad loc.) 

344-350. Cui. " In honour of whom," i. e., in libation unto 
whom. According to Voss, this libation of wine and honey was 
poured either upon the victim that was intended to be sacrificed, or 
upon the fire on the altar. — Felix hostia. " The propitiating vic- 
tim," i. e., that is of happy omen for the produce of the fields, since 
it propitiates the favour of the goddess. The victim offered up on 
this occasion was a sow, called, in consequence, porca pracidanea. 
(Cato, R. R., 134.) — Omnis chorus et socii. "The whole band of 
thy companions in full chorus." Put for omnis chorus sociorum. 
The socii are the companions and assistants in rural labours. — 
Ovantes. " With joyous feelings." Equivalent to latantes. — Vocent. 
" Let them invite." The expression vocare in tecta is here the same 
as ut adsit invocare. — Tortd rzdimitus tempora quercu. " Having his 
temples encircled by the wreathed oak leaf." They wore wreaths 
of oak in honour of Ceres, because she first taught mankind the 
use of grain instead of acorns. — Det motus incomposilos. " He dance 
in uncouth measure." — Cereri. " In honour of Ceres." 

351-356. Atque, hcec ut certis, &c. After having insisted upon 
the importance of astronomical knowledge to the husbandman, the 
poet now proceeds to show in what way he may be able, even with- 
out this, to foresee, in a good measure, the changes of the weather, 
and to prevent the misfortunes that may attend them. The meth- 
od proposed is to watch the signs afforded by the moon, and to 
draw prognostics likewise from natural phenomena, &c. — Hcec. 
Referring to what comes after, namely, astus, pluvias, ventos, &c. 
— Possemus. We have given thi-s, with Voss, Wunderlich, and 
Wagner, as preferable to possimus, the common reading : possemus 
denotes the intent of Jove ; possimus merely a present result. 
(Wagner, ad loc.) — Agentes. " Driving onward with them." Equiv- 
alent to secum advehentes. — Statuit. " Appointed," i. e., as a fixed 
and constant law. 

Z2 



270 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

Cadcrent. " Should fall." Observe the use of cadere for residere. 
So in Greek, fiopeao necovroc. (Hes., Op. et D., 547.) — Quid scepe 
videntes. Alluding to the frequent recurrence of what prognostic. 
— Propius stabulis. Not allowing them to go forth to their accus- 
tomed and more distant pastures. — Continuo. " In the first-place." 
The poet now proceeds to enumerate the various prognostics that 
give warning of approaching storms ; and he gives them, too, in 
their natural order, beginning with the more remote ones, and end- 
ing with those that indicate the storm to be close at hand. The 
whole passage is in imitation of Aratus. 

357-364. Aridus fragor. " A dry crackling sound," i. e., like that 
made by the dry branches of trees when they break. — Altis monti- 
bus. " Up on the high mountains," i. e., amid the forests high up 
on the mountains. — Misceri. " To be disturbed," i. e., by the dash- 
ing of the troubled waves. Voss calls the attention of the reader 
to the peculiar beauty of the numbers in verses 357-359. 

Jam sibi turn a curvis, &c. " Now, then, does the wave with dif- 
ficulty restrain itself from the bending ships." Observe the con- 
struction of tempero. With the accusative, it means " to regulate," 
"to arrange;" but with the dative, "to set bounds to," "to re- 
strain." The common text joins it, on the present occasion, with 
the dative (sibi) and the ablative (carinis), but we have preferred 
inserting the preposition before the latter, with Heinsius, Bothe, 
Wagner r and others, on good MSS. authority. The preposition 
with the ablative occurs, moreover, at Mn., ii., 8. — Clamoremque 
ferunt ad littora. "And bear loud outcries to the shores," i. e., fly 
to land with loud cries. — Atque altam supra volat, &c. This descrip- 
tion of the soaring flight of the heron is admirably true to nature. 

365-369. Stellas. According to the Geoponica (i., 11), and Pliny 
(H. N., ii., 36, xviii., 80), shooting stars portend a storm from the 
quarter towards which they proceed ; but, according to Aratus (v. 
194), Seneca (A 7 . Q., i., 14), and others, from the quarter whence 
they shoot. — A tergo. "After them." — Paleam. What Virgil says 
here of chaff, falling leaves, and feathers, Aratus has said of the 
down of thistles. 

370-372. At, Borecz de parte, &c. The poet now proceeds to give 
the prognostics of rain, and again imitates, in so doing, the Gre- 
cian Aratus. The first of these is lightning and thunder from all 
parts of the heavens, three quarters being named for the whole 
number. — Fulminat. " It lightens." The idea of thunder is also 
implied, fulmen being properly the lightning that strikes. — El quum 
Eurique, &c. " And when the home of Eurus and of Zephyrus 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 271 

each sends forth thunderings," i. e., when it lightens and thunders 
in the southeast and the west. As already remarked, the north, 
the southeast, and the west are here named as a part for the whole. 
— Omnia rura natant. " All the fields swim." — Ponto. " On the 
deep." Opposed to rura. Wakefield connects ponto with humida ; 
but the sails of the mariner are here wet with the rain, not with the 
water of ocean. 

373-378. Nunquam imprudentibus, &c. " A rain storm has never 
done harm to any -who were not previously apprized of its coming." 
The meaning is simply this, that so clear are the warnings and 
prognostics of the approach of rain that no one need ever be off his 
guard. There is no necessity whatever, therefore, of our reading 
prudentibus here with Schrader. — Aut ilium surgentem, &c. " Ei- 
ther the cranes, accustomed to wing their way on high, have fled 
from it at its rising (and taken shelter) in the bottom of the valleys." 
Aristotle, in treating of the foresight of cranes, says, they fly on 
high that they may see afar off; and if they perceive clouds and 
storms, they descend and rest on the ground ! From this high flight 
of the cranes we see the propriety of the epithet atria, ; and we also 
find that not their flying on high, but their descent, is to be esteem- 
ed a sign of rain. (Martyn, ad loc.) — Vallibus imis. Incorrectly 
joined by some in construction with surgentem. 

Captavit. " Has snuffed up." — Arguta. " Twittering." — Cir- 
cumvolitavit. " Has skimmed around." — Et veterem in limo. Virgil 
is thought to allude here to the metamorphosis of the Lycian peas- 
antry into frogs, for insulting Latona. {Ovid, Met., vi., 376.) — Ce- 
cinere. The poet has attempted to imitate by this word (pronounced 
by the Romans kekinere) the note of the frog. (Compare the Ppene- 
KeneZ of Aristophanes, Ran., 209, seq.). 

379-382. Scepius et tectis, &c. "More frequently, too, has the 
ant, wearing (in this way) a narrow path, brought out its eggs from 
its hidden recesses." The poet now proceeds to mention certain 
prognostics of still more frequent occurrence than those already 
described. — Angustum terens iter. Beautifully descriptive of the 
toilsome and unwearied efforts of these insects, and of the long 
line of march formed by them in coming forth from and returning 
to their homes. — Et bibit ingens arcus. It was an article of popular 
belief among the ancients that the rainbow drew up water with its 
horns. Aratus mentions the rainbow appearing double as a sign 
of rain, in which he is followed by Pliny. — Corvorum. The rook is 
meant. Some regard corvus here as the raven, others as the crow. 
Both, however, are wrong. The rook is a gregarious bird, but the 



272 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

raven and the crow are solitary ones ; besides, the qualities de- 
scribed at verse 410, seqq., are essentially different from those of the 
raven and the crow. — Increpuit densis alis. " Have made a loud 
flapping with their thickly-crowded pinions." Aratus has Tzrefta 
TTVKvd, but nvKva here answers better to the Latin crebro. Virgil, 
on the contrary, means to express by densis the idea of a large 
number of birds in dense order. 

383-384. Jam varias pelagi volucres, &c. " Now may you see 
various birds of ocean, and those also which search for food through- 
out the Asian meadows, in the pools of fresh water formed by the 
overflowings of the Cayster." Another class of presages is here 
mentioned, consisting, namely, of those that are afforded by both 
sea-fowl and fresh-water birds. Wagner and others read varice in 
the nominative. (Consult note on infundere, v. 385.) — El qua, Asia, 
&c. Alluding to the fresh-water fowl, especially swans, that fre- 
quented in great numbers the Asia palus, a fenny tract of country 
in Lydia, formed by the River Cayster, near its mouth. Observe 
that Asia here has the initial syllable long, whereas in Asia, the 
name of the continent, it is short. — Circum. Used here like nepi 
often in Greek, to express not so much motion around as extension 
through space. (Kuhner, G. G., vol. ii., p. 260, ed. Jelf) -Rimantur. 
In the mode in which aquatic birds suck their food in morassy 
ground. {Valpy, ad lor..) — Ca'ystri. The Cayster was a rapid river 
of Asia, rising in Lydia, and, after a meandering course, falling into 
the ^gean Sea near Ephesus. It is now called the Kitchik Minder, 
or Little Maeander. 

385-387. Certatim, &c. Alluding to their habit of ducking them- 
selves before rain. — Largos rores. " The plenteous water." Ros, 
poetic for aqua. — Infundere. Wagner and others, who read varice 
in line 383, regard varies volucres either as the nominative absolute, 
or else infundere, objectare, &c , as absolute infinitives, for infundunt, 
objectant, &c. — Currere in undas. This may be observed among the 
habits of the swan. {Valpy, ad loc.) — Et studio incassum, &c. 
" And to act from an unavailing desire of washing themselves." 
Geslio is to manifest one's intention, wish, or desire, by position, 
bearing, and movement. The birds, on this occasion, seem active- 
ly employed in washing themselves ; but it is all without effect, 
their labour all seems unavailing, for they are no sooner out of the 
water than they plunge into it again. (Voss, ad loc.) There is no 
allusion here, as Voss correctly remarks, to any thickness or oili- 
ness of plumage that prevents the water from penetrating, and thus 
renders the labour of the birds an unavailing one. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK I. 273 

388-392. Comix improba. " The impudent crow." The term im- 
proba refers particularly to the bold and continued croaking of the 
bird. Compare the explanation of Heyne : " clamore improbo, nimio, 
conlinud crocitatione edque odiosd." So, also, Voss : " Schamlos ruft 
auch die Krah," &c. Some render improba " unlucky," but le^s 
correctly. — Plena voce. ** With thick-toned cry." Servius reads 
raurd for plena, and is followed in this by some modern editors. 
But raucd is a mere gloss, and not a very correct one either. Vir- 
gil means a kind of thick, choking cry. Compare the language of 
Pliny (H. N., x., 12), who, in speaking of crows, observes, " Pessi- 
ma eorum significalio, cum glutiunt vocem, veluti strangulati." — Plu- 
viam vocat. The ancients thought that crows not only predicted 
rain, but naturally called it. (Lucret., v., 1084, seq.)—Sola. Mark- 
ing its habits as a solitary, not gregarious bird. Commentators 
call attention to what they consider evident marks of alliteration in 
this line. 

Ncc nocturna, &c. "We have adopted nee with Voss, instead of 
the common reading, ne. The former binds the passage more 
closely to what precedes. Nee is also defended by Wunderlich, in 
his epistle to Heeren, p. 5. — Nocturna carpentes pensa. " While 
plying their nightly tasks." Carper e pensum properly means, " to 
card a certain portion of wool that has been weighed out to one." 
It is often, however, as in the present case, applied in a general 
sense to the operation of spinning, or weaving. — Hicmem. "The 
approaching storm." — Testa. A lamp of terra cotta, or baked clay. 
— Scintillare. "Sputter." — Et putres concresccre fungos. "And foul 
fungous excrescences grow about the wick." Both the sputtering 
of the oil and the growth of these would proceed from a dampness 
of the atmosphere. 

393-394. Nee minus. After the signs of wind and rain, the poet 
now proceeds to give those of fair weather. — Ex imbri soles, &c. 
" Sunny days, and fair open weather succeeding to rain ;" literally, 
" after rain." Martyn reads eximbres, agreeing with soles, and ren- 
ders as follows : " unshowery suns." He thinks this more poetical 
than the common reading, and says it is certain that Virgil's mean- 
ing could not be that the observations alluded to in the text are to 
be made during the rain, &c. But, in the first place, there is no 
good authority whatever for such a compound as eximbris ; and, in 
the next place, ex imbri does not signify, while it actually rains, but, 
rather, immediately after a shower, during which interval one may 
judge whether the bad weather is likely to continue or not. Virgil 
here gives us, as we have already remarked, certain prognostics of 



274 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK I. 

the latter ; while prospicere plainly intimates something future, and 
shows the poet's meaning to be, when the weather is not quite set- 
tled, but is going to change from bad to good. We find, too, after- 
ward, at verse 413, that the showers are but just over, when the 
rooks foretell a change, and promise fair weather. — (Holdsworth, 
ad loc.) 

395-403. Acies obtusa videtur. " Does their light appear dim." 
The first sign of fair, settled weather is the brightness of the stars. 
— Obnoxia. " Indebted." The second sign is here given ; the 
moon, namely, arises with such an exceeding brightness, that one 
would rather think her light to be her own, than only borrowed 
from the sun. — Tenuia lancz vellera. " Thin fleeces of wool-like 
clouds." These fleecy, thin clouds are signs of rain. Their being 
no longer carried through the air is Virgil's third sign. Compare 
Plin. (H. N., xviii., ult.), " Si nvbes ut vellera lancz spargentur multce 
ab oriente, aquam in triduum prasagiunt." — Non tepidum ad solem, 
&c. The fourth sign of fair weather. — Alcyones. " The Halcyons." 
Ceyx and Alcyone, as a reward of their mutual affection, were 
changed after death into halcyons, and, according to the poets, the 
gods decreed that the sea should remain calm while these birds 
built their nests upon it. The halcyon is our kingfisher ; but all 
that is said about its nest floating on the water, and the days of 
calm, is untrue. — Non ore solutos. " Nor do the filthy swine remem- 
ber to toss about with their mouth the loosened bundles of straw," 
i. e.., the swine no longer carry about wisps of straw in their 
mouths. Virgil's fifth sign. 

Nebula. "The mists." Virgil's sixth sign. Tendency down- 
ward of the mists. — Ima. " The low grounds." — Solis et occasum, 
&c. " While the owl, watching the setting of the sun from the 
highest roof-top, plies to no purpose her late strains." The mean- 
ing is simply this, that the owl, which commonly indicates unfavour- 
able weather by her note, now utters that note to no purpose, since 
the signs of fair weather are so certain as not to be changed by any 
evil presage that may come from her. 

404-409. Apparet liquido, &c. The seventh sign of fair weather ; 
the sea-eagle pursuing the ciris. — Liquido. "Clear." — Nisus. 
Minos having laid siege to Megara, of which Nisus was king, be- 
came master of the place through the treachery of Scylla, the 
daughter of the latter. Nisus had a purple or golden lock of hair 
growing on his head, and, as long as it remained uncut, so long was 
his life to last. Scylla, having seen Minos, fell in love with him, 
and resolved to give him the victory. She accordingly cut off her 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 275 

father's precious lock as he slept, and he immediately died. The 
town was then taken by the Cretans ; but Minos, instead of reward- 
ing the maiden, disgusted with her unnatural treachery, tied her by 
her feet to the stern of his vessel, and thus dragged her along till 
she was drowned. Nisus was changed after death into the bird 
called the syi eagle (d/Uderof ), and Scylla into that named ciris (kec- 
pic), and the father continually pursues the daughter, says the le- 
gend, to punish her for her crime. The ciris is commonly sup- 
posed to have been a species of lark ; but it is rather a solitary 
bird, with a purple crest, which continually haunts the rocks and 
shores of the sea. 

Inimicus atrox. "An unrelenting foe." Many editors separate 
these two words by a comma, regarding each as an adjective. 
Wunderlich connects atrox in an adverbial sense with insequitur. 
— Se fert ad auras. "Mounts the sky." — Fugiens. "Fleeing be- 
fore him." 

410-416. Turn liquidas corvi, &c. "Then do the rooks, with 
compressed throat, redouble thrice or four times their clear notes." 
Eighth sign of fair weather. The clear, contented note of the 
rooks. Observe that liquidas is here opposed to raucas, w T hich lat- 
ter would be the cry of the birds in question if presaging rain. — 
Presso gutture. For the purpose of making the cry a more piercing 
one. — Cubilibus altis. "In their lofty abodes." The gregarious 
disposition of the rooks, particularly during incubation, on the tops 
of lofty trees, is well known. — Nescio qua prater solitum, &c. " In- 
fluenced by I know not what unusual feeling of delight, they make 
a rustling noise together among the leaves," We have recalled 
the preposition before foliis, with Jahn and Wagner. The common 
reading would make foliis the ablalivus instrumental, and quite 
change the meaning. 

Imbribus actis. " The showers being over." Actis for exactis. — 
Baud equidem credo, &c. " Not, I do indeed believe, because they 
have from on high any portion of intellect." Virgil here follows 
Epicurus in rejecting the doctrine of the Pythagoreans and others, 
namely, that all animals possessed a portion of the anima mundi, or 
great world-pervading spirit, and, consequently, were animated by 
an intellectual principle. — Aut rerum fato prudentia. Some here 
follow the explanation given by Voss, who joins fato rerum in con- 
struction ; so that the idea will be this, " an understanding superior 
to the fates," i. e., which the fates obey. He who predicts the fu- 
ture, seems, says Voss, by the certainty of his prediction, to com- 
mand the future, as it were ; so, according to the opinion which 



276 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

Virgil here opposes, the rooks seem not merely to announce a 
coming change of weather, but actually to exercise some influence 
over its coming ; to bring it, as it were, by their cry. The explana- 
tion of Heyne and others, however, is far preferable, namely, " or 
a knowledge of things, granted by fate, superior to what is allowed 
unto mortals." , 

417-423. Varum, ubi tempestas, &c. " But when the storm, and 
the fluctuating vapours of the sky, have changed their courses,'' i. 
e., when the storm and the rain have departed. — Et Jupiter uvidus 
austris, &c. "And the air, saturated with moisture by the southern 
winds (that have just ceased), condenses the things that just before 
were rare, and rarefies what were dense." Jupiter, the lord of the 
air, is here put figuratively for the air itself. — Uvidus. This is the 
true reading here, not humidus, as some editions have it. Humidus 
is merely opposed to siccus or aridus, whereas uvidus is a far stronger 
term, and equivalent to " largiter humens." (Consult Wagner, ad 
loc.) — Austris. The southern winds are here named, as having 
been the bearers of the rains that have just ceased. — Vertuntur 
species animorum. " The images of their bosoms are completely 
altered," i. e., their feelings become directly the reverse of what 
they had previously been, and as fair weather succeeds the storm, 
so, with them, pleasurable emotions take the place of opposite ones. 

Et pectora motus, &c. " And their breasts now receive different 
impressions (they received different ones from these while the 
wind was driving onward the clouds)." We have enclosed alios, 
dum nubila ventus agebat in a parenthesis, as recommended by Wun- 
derlich, and clearly required by the sense. We must supply concip- 
iebant with this second alios. Some render alios, alios u other than," 
but by what process is quite unknown. — Hinc ille concentus, &c. 
" Hence that choral harmony of the feathered race in the fields," i. 
e., when fair, serene weather succeeds to storm and gloom. — Ocan- 
tes. " Exulting." 

424-431. Si vero solem ad rapidum, &c. Having shown how the 
changes of weather are predicted by animals, the poet now proceeds 
to explain the prognostics that are given by the sun and moon ; 
and begins with the moon. — Lunasque sequentes ordine. "And the 
phases of the moon as they follow on in order." — Crastina hora. 
" The morrow's hour," i. t., the morrow. — Insidiis. " By the de- 
ceitful appearance," i. e., fair and serene to the view at its com- 
mencement, but to end in storm and rain. 

Luna revertentes, &c. Aratus, who treats at large of the signs 
afforded by the moon, makes especial mention of the third and 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 277 

fourth days, between which the first phase falls. (Diosem., 49.) 
Virgil, therefore, following him, alludes here to the third day of the 
moon's rising, when she first " collects her returning fires," i. e., when 
her horns first become visible. To the mention of this third day suc- 
ceeds, at verse 432, that of the fourth. — Si nigrum obscuro, &c. " If 
she shall embrace a portion of dusky air with darkened horn." 
The first sign from the moon. If darkened when new, she betokens 
a rain storm. — Ore. " Over her visage." For in ore. There is no 
need whatever of our either reading ora (i. e., quoad ora). or regard- 
ing ore, as it stands, for an old dative, instead of ori. Both of these 
expedients are mentioned by Voss, though he gives the preference 
to the latter, referring to the use of morte for morti in Aulus Gellius, 
i., 24.— Phoebe. In Hesiod (Theog., 136), Phoebe is a daughter of 
Uranus and Gaea. In the later mythology, however, after the sun 
god had become confounded with Apollo, and received the appella- 
tion of Phoebus, his sister, the moon-goddess, obtained the name of 
Phoebe (4>oifo/). 

432-437. Certissimus auctor. " The surest source of presage." — 
Pura. " Clear of radiance." — Neque obtusis comibus. "And with 
unblunted horns." Aratus (Diosem., 53) and Varro (up. Plin., xviii., 
35, 79) both state, that if the horns of the moon appear blunted on 
the fourth night, storms of wind and rain are sure to follow. — Vo- 
taque servati, &c. Navigation, too, will be safe, if the moon ap- 
pear on her fourth night with horns not blunted. — Glauco, et Pan- 
opea, &c. " To Glaucus and Panopea, and Melicertes the son of 
Ino." Three sea deities are here named, to whom the mariner 
will pay his vows on having made a voyage undisturbed by any tem- 
pest. Glaucus was a fisherman, who, observing that his fish, on 
touching a certain herb, recovered their strength, and leaped again 
into the water, had the curiosity to taste it himself; whereupon he 
immediately plunged into the water, and became a sea god. — Pan- 
opea. Panopea was one of the Nereids. — Inou Melicertaz. Ino was 
the daughter of Cadmus, and wife of Athamas, king of Orchomenus. 
Fleeing from the fury of her insane husband, who had already de- 
stroyed one of their children, she threw herself into the sea, with 
her son Melicertes, from the cliff of Moluris, near Corinth. The 
gods took pity on her, and made her a sea-goddess, under the 
name of Leucothea, and Melicertes, a sea-god, under the name of 
Palaemon. 

438-444. Sol quoque, &c. We come now to the signs afTorded 
by the sun. The first three lines of this passage are closely imi- 
tated from as many of Aratus. (Diosem., 87-89.) — Refert. " He 



278 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

brings on his return." — Et qua. " And those which he gives." 
Observe here the zeugma, refert being understood, in the sense of 
dat. — Nascentem ortum. " His first rising," i. e., his disk on his first 
rising. — Medioque refugerit orbe. "And shall have receded from 
the view with the middle portion of his disk." The sign referred 
to here is when the sun, to use Pliny's language, appears concave 
or hollow, that is, when the outer edges merely are bright, while 
the inner part is obscured with clouds, and seems, therefore, to re- 
cede from the view. Compare the language of Aratus (Diosem., 
96), 6n6re koIXoc teidofievoc ireptTe^n, and also Pliny (H. N., xviii., 
35, 78), " concavus oriens [sol] pluvias pradicit." 

Urguet. "Is pressing on." The advance of the storm-wind is 
compared to the rapid march of a mighty host. — Ab alto. " From 
the deep." — Arboribusque satisque, &c. Observe the rapid succes- 
sion of dactyls, as typical of the onset of the southern blast. 

445-449. Aut ubi sub lucem, &c. The sign here meant is when 
the rays of the sun scatter themselves in different directions at his 
first rising, among thick clouds, or, in other words, have a parted 
and broken appearance. — Sese diversi rum-pent. " Shall break (and 
scatter) themselves in different directions." — Aut ubi pallida, &c. A 
pale dawn is meant, which, as well as the preceding sign, is a pre- 
cursor of hail. — Tarn multa in tectis, &c. " So thick does the hor- 
rid hail leap rattling on the house-tops." 

450-457. Hoc etiam, &c. " This, also, it will be more profitable 
for us to remember when the sun shall now be departing, the heav- 
ens having been traversed by it," i. e., it will be more important 
for us to watch the signs which the sun may give in the evening 
when setting, since these are more to be relied on than those 
which appear in the morning at sunrise. The latter soon disap- 
pear as that luminary advances in his course, whereas the former 
last for some time. Aratus also makes the evening signs more 
worthy of reliance. (Diosem., 158.) — Ipsius invullu errare. "Stray- 
ing on his disk."— Caruleus. What Virgil here calls " dark blue," 
is, with Aratus, black. (Diosem., 102.) — Euros. "Southeastern 
blasts," i. e., storms of wind, especially from the southeast. This 
wind was particularly dreaded by the Italian husbandmen. — Sin 
macula incipient, &c. A mingling of the dark blue spots with the 
red betokens wind and rain. — Pariter fervere. " To be in a ferment 
alike," i. e., to be disturbed in equal degree. Observe that fervere, 
with the short penult, is here from the old stem-form fervo, -ere. — 
Non quisquam me moneat. " Let no one advise me." Moneat in the 
sense of auctor sit, or suadeat. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 279 

458-460. At si, quum referetque diem, &c. A bright disk at morn- 
ing and evening betokens clear weather, and the blowing of the 
cloud-dispelling north wind. — Nimbis. " By any apprehension of 
tempests." — Claro aquilone. "By the clear wind of the north." 
The north wind, in the summer season, brought a clear sky and 
serene weather. Hence the epithet clarus here applied to it. 

461-465. Denique, quid vesper serus vehat, &c. In a word, adds 
the poet, we can learn with the utmost certainty from the sun what 
kind of weather the evening is going to bring with it, whether it 
will then be fair or rainy. — Serenas nubes. " The serene clouds," 
i. e. } those without rain, and betokening serene weather. — Cogitet. 
"May be devising," i. e., what mischief it may be preparing. — Fal- 
sum. " A deceiver." Equivalent to fallentem. — Cazcos instare tu- 
multus. " That secret commotions impend," i. e., that commotions 
are secretly preparing. Tumultus is here used in a general sense 
for any popular disturbance or outbreak. Strictly speaking, how- 
ever, it was the name given to a sudden or dangerous war in Italy 
or Cisalpine Gaul. — Tumescere. " Are beginning to swell forth into 
the light." 

465-468. Me etiam, &c. Having just observed that the sun fore- 
tells wars and tumults, the poet takes occasion to mention the won- 
derful paleness of the sun after the death of Julius Caesar, and then 
digresses into a beautiful account of the other prodigies which are 
said to have occurred at the same time. — Quum caput obscurd, &c. 
"When he shrouded his bright head with a dark ferruginous hue.' , 
According to Plutarch (Vit. Cces., c. 69), Pliny (H. N., ii., 30), and 
Dio Cassius (xlv., 17), the sun appeared of a dim and pallid hue 
after the assassination of Julius Caesar, and continued so during the 
whole of the year : 6"kov yap kiceZvov tov hcavrov uxpdc p.ev 6 kvkXoq 
Kai jxapiiapvyac ovk ex <j)V averelkev. (Plut., I. c.) It is said, too, that 
for want of the natural heat of that luminary, the fruits rotted with- 
out coming to maturity. What Plutarch calls paleness, Virgil, it 
will be perceived, denominates, by a stronger term, ferrugo. This, 
of course, is the license of poetry. The phenomenon mentioned by 
the ancient writers is thought by some modern inquirers to have 
been occasioned by spots on the sun, and this is the more probable 
opinion. There appears, however, to have been an actual eclipse 
of the sun that same year, in the month of November. {Berlin. 
Astron. Tafeln., ii., p. 122.) 

Impiaque aternam, &c. " And an impious generation apprehend- 
ed eternal night," i. e., and the men of that impious age appre- 
hended, &c. The age is here called impious because polluted by 



280 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 

the assassination of Caesar. — Sacula. Employed here somewhat 
after the manner of Lucretius. Thus, scecla ferarum (Lucret., iii., 
754) ; hominum scBcla (Id., v., 340). 

470-473 Obscene. " Ill-omened ;" literally, "filthy," and thus 
answering to the Greek ftopSopudnc. (Consult Dotderlein, Lai. Syn., 
ii., p. 52.) Appian mentions dogs howling like wolves, after the 
death of Caesar; and Ovid speaks of dogs howling by night in the 
forum, and about private dwellings and the temples of the gods. — 
Importunes. " Presaging ill." — Signa dabant. " Gave many a sign." 
Observe the force of the imperfect in denoting the frequent recur- 
rence of an act. 

Quolies Cyclopum, &c. " How often did we see ^Etna, boiling 
forth from its burst furnaces, pour a glowing deluge upon the fields 
of the Cyclopes." Livy, as quoted by Servius, states that there 
was a violent eruption of ^Etna a short time before the death of 
Caesar, and that not only the neighbouring cities, but even Rhegium 
suffered. — Cyclopum agros. Homer makes the Cyclopes to have 
dwelt on the western coast of Sicily. A later age, however, placed 
them, as the ministers of Vulcan, in the caverns of ^Etna, or else 
in the ^Eolian isles. — Liquefactaque saxa. " And melted stones," 
i. e., lava. 

474-480. Armorum sonitum, &c. Ovid speaks of the clashing of 
arms, and the noise of trumpets and horns ; Appian also mentions 
great shouts in the air, clashing of arms, and rushing of horses. 
Perhaps this was some remarkable aurora seen about that time in 
Germany. — Alpes. Pliny states that the Alps were frequently sha- 
ken by earthquakes. (H. N., ii., 80, seq.) — Vulgo exaudita. " Was 
commonly heard." — Simulacra modis, &c. "Spectres strangely 
pale." — Pecudcs. " Cattle." By pecudes the poet seems to mean 
oxen, for these are the cattle that are said to have spoken on this 
occasion — Infandum ! " Omen of unutterable horror." The punc- 
tuation of the best editions refers this back to pccudesque locutce, not 
to sistunt amnes. 

Sistunt amnes. "The rivers stop." Supply se. Observe the 
change from the past to the present tense. This is done to render 
the description more graphic, as if the poet were recounting what 
he sees actually taking place under his own eyes. — Dehiscunt. 
" Gapes deeply downward." Ovid mentions an earthquake at 
Rome about this time. — Et mozstum illacrimat, &c. " The mourn- 
ful ivory, too, weeps in the temples, and the bronze statues sweat," 
i. e., the statues of ivory and bronze shed tears, and pour out per- 
spiration in the temples where they stand. Appian says that some 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 231 

statues even sweated blood. Ovid mentions the ivory images 
sweating in a thousand places, " mille locis lacrymavit ebur." {Met., 
xv , 792.) Tibullus also speaks of the statues ol the gods weeping, 
" El simulacra Deurn lacrymas fudisse te pontes " (i., 3, 28). 

481-486. Proluit insano, &c. " Eridanus, monarch of (Italian) 
rivers, whirling along with maddening eddy, washed away whole 
forests." Eridanus, the Greek and earlier name for the Po. Ob- 
serve that fluviorum here refers to the Italian rivers merely. — Tulit. 
" Bore oft"." Dio Cassius relates that, shortly after Caesar's death, 
the Po overflowed its banks, and then, suddenly receding again, 
left behind it a large number of water snakes on the adjacent 
country. — Tristibus aut extis, &c. " Did either the extremities fail 
to wear a threatening appearance in the inauspicious entrails." 
Supply cessaverunt. The exta were the heart, lungs, and liver, espe- 
cially the latter, which were examined by the diviners. The ex- 
tremity of any one of these, more particularly of the liver, was 
called fibra, which is also the primitive meaning of the term. Thus 
Varro remarks, "Antiqui fibrum dicebant extremum, a quo in sagis 
fimbriae, et in jecore extremum fibra, fiber, dictum. (L. L , v., p. 85.) 

Putcis manarc cruor. Ovid speaks of its raining blood : " $<zpe 
inter nimbos guttce. cecidere omenta." (Met., xv., 788.) — Alto, nrbes. 
" Lofty cities," i. e., cities built on elevated places, like Rome, for 
example, on her seven hills. The omen, in this case, would con- 
sist principally in the wolves boldly entering such places. Another 
reading is alte, " to their very centre," but this is less forcible. 
Voss, however, takes alt& in an adverbial sense, and gives it this 
same meaning of alte. 

487-492. Non alias ccelo, &c. Thunder and lightning in a clear 
sky were regarded as a peculiarly fearful omen. — Nee diri toties, &c. 
Fiery meteors are said to have been seen about this same time. 
The poet, however, would seem to refer principally to the star or 
comet that appeared. (Compare note on Eclog., ix., 46 ) — Ergo 
inter sesc, &c. " Philippi, therefore, beheld Roman forces engage 
a second time with equal arms." Ergo marks the conclusion to 
which all these omens tended, namely, a civil war. The train of 
ideas, then, is as follows : These signs and portents could not 
prove false, and therefore a war ensued of such a nature that Ro- 
man met Roman in equal arms, &e. — Iterum. To be joined in 
construction with concurrere. Pharsalia had seen the first meeting, 
in the previous civil w r ar ; and Philippi now beheld the second one, 
in this second intestine conflict. 

Necfuit indignum superis t &c. "Nor was it an unmerited pun- 
Aa2 



282 NOTES ON THE GEOEGICS. — -BOOK I. 

ishment in the eyes of the gods," &c, i. <?., and our vices richly de- 
served so severe a punishment as this, &c. — Bis sanguine nostro, 
&c. iEmathia was an earlier name for Macedonia. Here, how- 
ever, the poet, in employing it for Macedonia, takes the latter coun- 
try in its subsequent and fuller extent, after it had incorporated 
under the same name with itself both Thessaly and part of Thrace. 
Hence JEmathia and the broad plains of Haemus are the same as 
Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace. Now, Pharsalia was in Thes- 
saly, and Philippi in Thrace, whence the language of the text, 
" bis sanguine nostro," &c. — Hczmi campos. The ridge of Haemus 
formed the northern boundary of Thrace. Hence, by " the plains 
of Haemus" is meant the country of Thrace. 

493-497. Scilicet et tern-pus veniet, &c. " Ay, and the time will 
come," &c. Analogous to the Greek form of expression, iarai 6r\- 
ttov nai, brav, k. t. "k. Heyne and Wakefield join scilicet with what 
precedes, but this wants force. — Finibus. Poetic for tcrris. — Moli- 
tus. "While turning up." Used for molicns. (Consult note on 
verse 339. — Exesa scabrd rubigine. " All eaten with corroding rust." 
The handle of the Roman pilum, often made of cornel, was partly 
square, and 5| feet long. The head, nine inches long, was of iron, 
and is therefore now found only in the state here described by Vir- 
gil. — Grandia ossa. In accordance with the popular belief that man- 
kind are in a progressive state of degeneracy. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

498-503. Di patrii, Indigetes, &c. " Ye gods of my fathers, ye 
deified heroes of my native land, and thou, Romulus, and thou, 
Mother Vesta." We have placed a comma after patrii, with Wun- 
derlich, thus making the invocation refer to two classes of divin- 
ities, namely, the Di patrii, or great national divinities, and the 
Indigetes, or deified heroes. To the first class would belong Vesta, 
to the second Romulus. As regards the omission of the connect- 
ing conjunction, we may compare a similar construction near the 
commencement of the present book. (v. 4-10.) — Tuscutn Tiberim. 
The Tiber is called " Tuscan" because forming, during a great part 
of its course, the eastern boundary of Etruria. — Romana Palatia. 
"The Roman Palatium." On the Palatine hill Romulus was fa- 
bled to have laid the first foundation of Rome. Here was his 
abode, and here also Augustus resided. The Roman Palatium 
then became identical, in the strains of poetry, with all that was 
glorious in the past and present annals of Rome. 

Hunc saltern juvenem. "This youthful hero at least." Alluding 
to Augustus. Observe the force of saltern. Do not take from us 
Augustus at least, as in your good pleasure you have deprived us 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 283 

of Julius. Augustus was at this time about twenty-seven years of 
age, and hence the term juvenis applied to him. — Everso. " Ru- 
ined." 

501-504. Satis jam pridem, &c. " Long since, indeed, have we 
sufficiently atoned with our blood for the foul perjury of Laome- 
dontean Troy," i. e., we have suffered sufficiently already for the 
crimes of our fathers, as well as our own.. Do not punish us any 
farther by taking from us Augustus, who can alone restore our ru- 
ined affairs. — Laomedontece Troja. Alluding to the refusal, on the 
part of Laomedon, to keep his plighted faith with Apollo and Nep- 
tune, after they had built the walls of his city. — Perjuria. Observe 
the force' of the plural here, and which we have endeavoured to 
express by the employment of an epithet. The Romans claimed 
descent from the Trojans, and therefore had to render atonement 
for the crimes of their forefathers. This atonement they had now 
paid by the bloodshed and desolation of their civil contests. 

Nobis te invidet. "Has envied us the possession of thee." The 
gods have long since been anxious that Augustus should leave the 
earth, and be enrolled in their number. Observe the force of jam 
pridem in converting invidet into a perfect in our idiom. The same 
remark will apply to the present luimus in verse 502. — Hominum 
curare triumphos. u That thou carest (too much) for mere mortal 
triumphs." In the language of the courtly flatterer, to live and to 
enjoy triumphs are one and the same thing for Augustus. 

505-509. Quippe ubi, &c. " Since here right and wrong are con- 
founded." Ubi is equivalent here to apud quos, i. e., homines, but 
in our idiom it is best rendered by the meaning of hie, just as the 
relative often, near the beginning of a clause, may be translated by 
the personal pronoun. — Tot bella per orbem. Supply sunt. The 
language of the text would seem to suit the year of the city 717, 
when the war was prevailing between Octavianus and Sextus Pom- 
peius ; when misunderstandings were beginning to arise between 
the triumvirs ; when Antony was prosecuting his unsuccessful 
expedition against the Parthians, and when a war had just been 
brought to a close by Agrippa against the revolted Gauls and Ger- 
mans. (Hcyne, ad loc.) 

Tarn multce scelerum facies. " So numerous are the aspects of 
guilt." — Abductis colonis. To fill the ranks of war. — Conflantur. 
"Are forged." Flare and conflare are properly employed to denote 
the melting of metals. Here, however, the meaning is a more en- 
larged one. — Hinc movet Euphrates. Alluding to the Parthians, and 
other Eastern nations combined with them, against whom Antony 



284 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 



was carrying on war. — Illinc Germania, &c. Alluding to the revolt 
of the Gallic and Germanic tribes. It had just been quelled, indeed, 
by Agrippa, but is represented in the language of poetry as still ex- 
isting. 

510-514. Vicina ruptis, &c. Some commentators refer this to 
commotions in Etruria, but the insurrection in that quarter took 
place the year after this, and was put an end to by the tidings of the 
victory over Sextus Pompeius. It is better, therefore, to make 
these words contain an allusion to civil dissensions in general. — 
Ut, quum carceribus, &c. The carceres were the " barriers" in the 
circus, whence the chariots started. They were vaults, closed in 
front by gates of open wood-work (cancelli), which were opened si- 
multaneously, upon the signal being given, by removing a rope at- 
tached to pilasters of the kind called Hernia, placed for that purpose 
between each vault or stall ; upon which the gates were immedi- 
ately thrown open by a number of men. The following cut (from 
a marble in the British Museum) represents a set of four carceres, 
with their Henna and cancelli open, as left after the chariots had 
started, in which the gates are made to open inward. 




Addunt in spatia. "They add round to round." Each course 
or round of chariots in the circus, from one of the starting-places, 
or carceres, to the metce, or goal, and back again, was termed spati- 
um, and seven of these had to be performed by the contending 
chariots before winning the race. The spatia were made around 
the spina, or low wall, running lengthways down the course, and 
at each end of it were three wooden cylinders of a conical shape, 
resting on a base, and called metct. Around these mc/a>, at either 
end of the spina, the chariots kept turning. The language of the 
text is meant to express the accomplishment of round after round, 
and is equivalent merely to spatia spatiis addunt. Compare the 
explanation of Frcund(Worterb., L. Spr., s v. addo), "fvigen Zwis- 
chenraume auf Zwischenraume." The following wood-cut rep- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK I. 



285 



resents the ground-plan of a Roman circus, with the spina running 
along the interior. The letters E E, at the extremities of the spina, 
mark the position of the mctce : 






3DE 



IS- 



M 

And the following, copied from a marble in the British Museum, 
will explain the form of the melat. 







286 N0TE3 ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 



BOOK II. 

Analysis of the Subject. 

I. Recapitulation of the subject of the previous Book, and brief 
exposition of that of the present one. (v. 1-3.) 

II. Invocation of Bacchus, not only as the god of the vine, but 
of fruits in general, (v. 4-8.) 

III. Origin of trees and plants, (v. 9-34.) 

(A.) Natural origin, (v. 10-21.) — Of their own accord, (v. 10- 
1J.) — From seed. (v. 14-16.) — From the parent root. (v. 17- 

i9.r 

(B.) Artificial origin, (v. 22-34 ) — From suckers, (v. 23.) — From 
settings, (v. 24-25.)— From layers, (v. 26-27.) — From cut- 
tings, (v. 28.)— From splittings of the parent trunk, (v. 30.) 
—From grafting, (v. 32-34.) 

IV. Modes of culture proper for the different kinds of trees and 
plants, (v. 35-82.) 

(A.) Introduction, (v. 35-38.)— Address to Maecenas, (v. 39- 

46.) 
(B.) Mode of improving those that have a natural origin, (v. 

47-60.) 
(C.) Mode of rearing those that have an artificial origin (v. 61-72), 

especially by means of inoculating and grafting, (v. 73-82.) 

V. Differences in trees and plants, (v. 83-135.) 

(A.) Differences arising from variety of species, (v. 83-108.) 
(B.) Differences arising from difference of soil. (v. 109-113.) 
(C.) Differences arising from difference of country, (v. 114-135.) 
(D.) Praises of Italy, (v. 136-176.) 

VI. Of soils, (v. 177-258.) 

(A.) Kind of soil fit for olive-trees, (v. 179-183.)— For the vine. 
(v. 184-194.)— For raising cattle, (v. 195-202.)— For corn. 
(v. 203-211.) — Soil suited for scarcely anything, (v. 212-216.) 
— Soil suited for almost any purpose, (v. 217-225.) 

(B.) Mode of telling each kind of soil. Whether loose or bard. (v. 
226-237.)— Salt and bitter, (v. 238-247.)— Fat. (v. 248-249.) 
—Moist, (v. 251-253 )— Heavy or light, (v. 254.)— Black, 
(v. 255.)— Cold. (v. 256-258.) 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 287 

VII. Culture of the vine. (v. 259-419.) 

(A.) Details concerning the Planting of the vine. (v. 259-353.) 
Digging of trenches to receive the young cuttings out of the 
nursery, (v. 259-264.) — Nursery of young cuttings, (v. 265- 
268.)— Setting out the slips, (v. 269-272.) — How close to- 
gether they ought to be. (v. 273-287.) — Depth of trenches, 
(v. 288-297.) — Other precautions to be exercised, (v. 298-314.) 
— Proper time for setting out. (v. 315-322.) — Praises of 
spring, (v. 323-345.) — General care to be taken of the set- 
tings, (v. 346-353.) 

(B.) After planting, the earth must be broken up, and drawn up 
around the roots, (v. 354-357.) — Pales, &c, must be prepared 
as supports for the young vines, (v. 358-361.) — The young 
shoots are to be merely nipped with the fingers at first, and not 
to be pruned with the pruning-knife until some time after, 
when they are stronger, (v. 362-370.) — Hedges are to be 
formed around the young vines as a protection against cattle, 
but more particularly against the goat, an animal sacrificed to 
Bacchus, on account of its being peculiarly injurious to the 
vine. (v. 371-396.)— The ground in the vineyard is to be 
ploughed three or four times every year, and, in fact, the labour 
of cultivating vineyards is shown to be never-ending, (v. 397- 
419.) 

VIII. Care of other trees and plants much lighter than that of 
the vine. (v. 420-457.) 

(A.) The olive-tree. (v. 420-425.) 

(B.) Fruit-trees, (v. 426-428.) 

(C.) Wild forest-trees, (v. 429-453.) 

(D.) Preference given to these different kinds of trees over the 

vine, and its intoxicating and mischievous produce, (v. 453- 

457.) 

IX. Blessings of a country life. (v. 458-540.) 

X. Conclusion of the Book. (v. 541-542.) 



288 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 



BOOK II. 

1-3. Hactenus. "Thus far have I sung." Supply cecini. This 
line contains a brief recapitulation o-f the subject of the first book. 
— Nunc te, Bacche, &c. The poet next proceeds to state, with equal 
brevity, the intended subject of the second book ; namely, vines, 
forest-trees, fruit-trees, and of these last the olive in particular. — 
Bacche. Bacchus not only brought the vine into Greece from the 
shores of the Indian Ocean (Athen., xv., 5), but also introduced into 
that country all kinds of fruit-bearing trees. Hence we read of the 
firjha Aiovvcolo, or apples of Bacchus, supposed to be the quince ; 
and hence, also, his surnames of Kdpnifioc and Aevtipirnc. — S'dvcs- 
tria virgulta. " The young forest-trees." These were planted out 
in vineyards, for the vines to creep along, in place of stages. Hence 
the mention that is here made of them, in connexion with Bacchus 
and the vine. Among the trees meant on the present occasion may 
be named the elm in particular, the poplar, the ash, &c. 

Tarde crescentis olivae. The olive is specially named, but the 
other fruit-bearing trees are also meant, of which the olive is here 
made a kind of representative. The ancient Greek writers on agri- 
culture speak of the olive as a very slow grower, and have hence 
given it, among other epithets, that of byinap-Koc. Pliny quotes a 
passage from Hesiod, wherein the latter says that the planter of an 
olive-tree never lived to gather the fruit of it ; but Pliny adds, that 
in his time they planted olives one year, and gathered the fruit the 
next. Hesiod, however, spoke, no doubt, of sowing the pit or seed 
of the olive, whereas the Roman writer seems to mean the trans- 
planting of the truncheons. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

4-8. Pater Lenae. " O Lenaean parent." The term pater is 
here applied to Bacchus, not with any reference to advanced years, 
for the god is always represented by the ancient artists with the 
attributes of youth (compare Miiller, Archaolog. der Kunst, p. 566), 
but merely as indicative of his being the beneficent author of so 
many good gifts unto men. — Lenae. Bacchus was called Lenaus, 
or " the god of the wine-press," from the Greek Kijvaloc, of the same 
signification, itself derived from /tr/vdf, " a wine-press." — Tibi pam- 
pineo, &c. " For thee flourishes the field, loaded with the autum- 
nal produce of the vine ; for thee the vintage foams with its full 
vats." Observe here the force of tibi, " for thee ;" i. e., for thy 
honour, because brought about by thy power and auspicious influ- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 289 

ence. — Pampinco auctumno. More literally, " with viny autumn." 
The reference is, as Wunderlich correctly remarks, to the period 
of the vintage, which is named, in fact, immediately after. 

Nudataque musto, &c. This alludes to the custom, still continued 
in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, of treading out the grapes with the 
feet. — Cothurnis. Bacchus is frequently represented with rich bus- 
kins. (Mullcr, Archceolog. der Ku?ist, p. 567.) 

9-13. Pnncipio. The poet begins with an account of the sever- 
al methods of producing trees ; and first he speaks of the three 
ways by which they are produced without culture ; spontaneously, 
by seeds, and by suckers from the parent root. — Arboribus varia est, 
&c. " Nature varies in the production of trees ;" i. e., the natural 
origin of trees is various. The natural origin of trees is here op- 
posed to the artificial mode mentioned farther on (y. 22, seqq.). — 
Spontc sun. " Of their own accord ;" i. e., by unassisted nature. 
The ancients were believers in the spontaneous generation of 
plants, a doctrine now exploded. — Molle siler. " The soft osier.'' 
The siler is the osier, or Salix vitellina of Linnaeus. {Fee, Flore de 
Virgile, p. 153.) — Lcntceque genestcc. "And the pliant broom." 
The genesta is the same with what is called the Spanish broom, 
and grows in great abundance in most parts of Italy. The ancient 
husbandmen used it for hedges ; the modern Italians weave baskets 
of its slender branches. The flowers are very sweet, last long, and 
afford an agreeable food for bees. (Plin., H. N., xvi., 37, 69.— Mar- 
ty n, ad loc.) — Salicta. Put for saliccs, the willow grounds for the 
trees themselves. (Consult note on Eclog., i., 55.) — Glaucd canen- 
tiafronde. " White (beneath), with leaf of bluish-green (above)." 
This is a beautifully accurate description of the common willow. 
The leaves are of a bluish green above, while the under part is cov- 
ered with a white down. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

14-16. Posito de semine. " From seed deposited (by the parent 
tree itself),"' i. e., from seed that has fallen on the ground from the 
branches of the parent tree. — Costarica. Consult note on Eclog., i., 
82. — Nemorumque Jovi quae, &c. " And the aesculus, which, tallest 
of forest-trees, blooms in honour of Jove ;" i. e., is sacred to Jove. 
Ncmonim is here put poetically for arborum. So silvarum for arbo- 
rum, v. 21, 26. The gender in maxima refers back, of course, to 
(zsculus, and we may compare with maxima nemorum the analogous 
form of expression, " potentissimus Gallia." The cesculus belongs 
to the quercus, or oak family, but what particular kind of tree is 
meant here remains altogether doubtful. Martyn is in favour of 
the bay oak. — Atque habitce Graiis, &c. " And the oaks deemed 
Bb 



290 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

oracular by the Greeks." Alluding to the sacred oaks at Dodona, 
that were fabled to impart oracles. 

17-21. Pullulat densissima silva. " A very thick growth of suck- 
ers sprouts forth." Pullulat here is a very appropriate term. Thus, 
Cato (R. R., 51) calls these suckers pulli ; and Pliny (H. N., xvii., 
10, 12) terms them pulluli. — Cerasis. Lucullus brought the cherry- 
tree from Pontus, in Asia Minor, into Italy, having met with it, du- 
ring his campaigns against Mithradates, at Cerasus, from which 
city it took its name. As, however, Servius expressly states that 
cherry-trees were known before this in Italy, we must suppose, with 
Voss, that Lucullus brought over the improved or cultivated cher- 
ry. This view would harmonize with the language of Servius, 
who informs us that the cherries previously known in Italy were of 
an inferior quality, and were called coma, and that subsequently 
this name was changed to conia-cerasa. Pliny, however, it should 
be added, expressly denies that cherries were known in Italy before 
the time of Lucullus. 

Vlmis. Elms were in great request among the ancients, they 
being preferred before all other trees for supports to the vine. — Par- 
nasia laurus. The bay, as we have before remarked, was sacred to 
Apollo. The finest trees of this kind grew on Mount Parnassus, 
according to Pliny (H. N., xv., 30, 40). As Delphi, the seat of 
Apollo's celebrated oracle, was situate on the slope of Parnassus, 
there is a double allusion in the epithet Parnasia. — Se subjicit. 
" Rears its head." Sub, in composition, here beautifully marks the 
gradual growth of the young tree. — Silvarum, fruticumque, &c . "Of 
forest-trees, and shrubs, and the tenants of the sacred groves." 
Observe here the peculiar use of silvarum and nemorum, and com- 
pare note on verse 15. — Fruticum. This name is given to shrubs 
which do not rise into one clean stem, but break into a number of 
small suckers. (Valpy, adloc.) 

22-25. Sunt alii. " There are other (modes of producing trees)." 
Supply modi arborum creandarum. Having mentioned the several 
ways by which plants naturally propagate their species, he now pro- 
ceeds to enumerate those methods which are employed by the art 
and industry of man. These are suckers, settings, layers, cuttings, 
splittings of the parent trunk, and grafting. — Quos ipse via, &c. 
" Which experience itself has found out in the march of improve- 
ment." Observe here the peculiarly elegant use of via to denote 
the " path" of improvement. — Plantas. " Suckers." — Tencras. We 
have given teneras here with Manso, on the authority of a MS., as 
far preferable to the common reading tenero. — Abscindens. " Pluck- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGTCS. BOOK II. 291 

ing away." The suckers are pulled up, or plucked away, not cut ; 
and hence abscindens is the true reading here, not abscidens, as Hein- 
sius gives it. Abscido is to separate or remove by means of and 
sharp instrument ; absciudo, by any other means more or less for- 
cible. (Consult Wagner, ad loc.) 

Hie stirpes obruit arvo, &c. "This one plants settings in the 
ground, (namely), both stakes split at the bottom into four, and 
poles with the wood sharpened to a point." The planting of set- 
tings is the fixing of the large branches, like stakes, into the earth. 
There are two ways of doing this, and they are both stated in verse 
25. The " quadrifidas sudes" is when the bottom is slit across both 
ways, and the " acuto roborc" is when it is cut into a point, which is 
called the coifs foot. {Benson, ad loc.) 

26-27. Silvarum. For arborum. Compare verse 15. — Pressos 
propaginis arcus. " The bent-down arches of a layer." This is 
propagating by layers, which are called technically propagines. The 
Roman agricultural writers use the term propagatio exclusively in 
the sense of raising by layers, which is the mode most applicable 
to the vine. (Martyn, ad loc.) — Et viva sua plantaria terra. " And 
nurseries all alive in their native earth." The epithet viva refers, 
as Voss remarks, to their living as yet unsevered from the parent 
tree. Sua terra alludes to the earth in which the parent plant 
stands. 

28-30. Nil radicis egent alia. The poet here proceeds to describe 
propagation by cuttings, that is, by planting cuttings taken from the 
uppermost shoots. — Referens. "Restoring." Because it came 
originally from the earth through the medium of the parent tree. — 
Summum cacumen. "The topmost shoot." — Quin et caudicibus sec- 
tis. " Nay, even after the trunks are cut in pieces." Alluding to 
the mode of dividing the trunk itself, and planting it in pieces, as is 
practised with olives. The poet speaks of it justly as a wonder 
that olive-trees should thus strike roots from dry pieces of the 
trunk. 

32-34. Et scepe alterius, &c. The poet now speaks of propaga- 
tion by grafting, and subjoins two instances of the results of this 
process. With alterius supply generis arborum, or else arboris sim- 
ply. — Impune. " Without injury." — Vertere. "To change." Sup- 
ply se. — Mutatam. " Having been altered by this process." — Insita. 
" Ingrafted." The pear and apple will grow a year or two on each 
other's stocks, but the graft of both soon dies. (Valpy, ad loc.) — 
Et prunis lapidosa, &c. " And the stony cornels to redden on the 
view with plums," i. e., the cornelian cherry-tree to bear, by graft- 



292 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK II. 

ing, red plums. Observe that coma, the fruit, is here put poetical- 
ly for the tree itself ; the result, however, that is here mentioned, 
namely, obtaining plums from cherry-trees, is pronounced impossi- 
ble by modern physiologists. The great principle on which success 
in grafting depends is, that the tree to which the graft is to be ap- 
plied must be within certain limits of physiological affinity to the 
other, so as to form a vital union. Hence the statements of the 
ancients having successfully grafted the olive on the fig, plums on 
pears, and the like, are not to be credited. Modern investigators 
explain to us that such incongruities cannot take place, and the 
truth of this position has been ascertained by repeated experi- 
ments. 

In translating the words " et prums lapidosa rubescere corna," we 
have followed Heyne, Voss, and Wunderlich. Martyn, however, 
takes a very different view of the matter, and translates as follows : 
" And stony cornelian cherries to glow upon plum stocks." He has 
been followed in this by Manso, Jahn, and others ; but it is difficult 
to conceive why, when the object of grafting is to improve, such a 
process as that of grafting a much inferior fruit on a tree yielding 
one of far better quality and nature should ever have been at- 
tempted. 

35-38. Proprios generalim cultus. " The proper modes of culti- 
vating trees according to their kinds," i. e., the culture proper to 
each kind of tree. — Mollite. " Tame." — Ncu segues jaceant terra. 
"Nor let (any) lands lie idle." The meaning is this : If you have 
any land of inferior quality, and unfit for raising grain, do not let it 
lie idle on that account, but plant it with vines and olive-trees, and 
in this way turn it to good account. — Juvat Ismara Baccho. " It is 
delightful to plant Ismarus thickly with the vine." Observe the force 
of con in conserere, to plant every part of Ismarus, to leave no part 
idle. Ismarus (plur. Ismara) was a mountain of Thrace, near the 
mouth of the Hebrus, covered with vineyards. Its wine was of 
excellent quality, and with some of it Ulysses intoxicated Polyphe- 
mus. (Od., i., 196.)— Taburnum. Taburnus, now Taburno, or Ta- 
bor, was a lofty mountain in Samnium, the southern declivities of 
which were covered with olive grounds. — By stating the success 
attending the culture of Ismarus and Taburnus, the poet means to 
recommend similar attempts in other hilly spots. (Serv., ad loc. — 
Valpy, ad loc.) 

39-41. Tuque ades, &c. The poet, having invoked Bacchus, and 
stated the subject of this book, now calls upon his patron Maecenas 
to give him his favouring aid. Voss acutely remarks, that here, 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 293 

where the suhject is the rearing of trees by human art and skill, a 
mortal is invoked ; whereas, when reference was made to trees 
produced by the power of nature, a deity, Bacchus, was the object 
of invocation. — Inceptumque unci, &c. " And, together with me, run 
down along my task begun." Observe that decurre here is a nau- 
tical term, and has no relation to the movements of the circus — 
Pelagoque volans, &c. " And, moving swiftly onward, give the sails 
to the sea as it opens on the view," i. e., animate me by thy favour- 
ing regard, and take a kind interest in these my strains, so shall my 
present attempt be brought to a rapid and successful close, and so 
will I brave, with thee for my patron, all the difficulties and dangers 
of this boundless theme. Burmann, Reiske, Wakefield, and Voss 
read volens, but volans is far preferable, and carries with it the idea 
of a rapid and animated career. 

42-46. Non ego opto. " I do not aspire." — Cuncta. He means 
the whole range of so extensive a subject. — Ferrea. Like the Ho- 
meric (ndrjpen, and carrying with it the idea of strength and power. 
— Primi lege littoris oram. " Coast along the nearest shore." The 
poet invites his patron to accompany him in taking merely a brief 
survey of the most important parts of the subject. — In manibus. 
" Is near at hand." Compare the Greek form of expression, hv 
Xepaiv. (Apoll. RhocL, i, 1113.) — Carmine ficto. " With a fictitious 
strain," i. e., with the fictions of epic verse. The poem is to be a 
didactic one, and is to deal in realities, not in the creations of the 
imagination. — Ambages et longa exorsa. " An idle circuit of words, 
and a tedious exordium." 

47-52 Sponte sua, &c. He recapitulates the several modes by 
which wild trees are produced, viz., spontaneously, by roots, and by 
seed, and proceeds to show by what culture each sort may be me- 
liorated. — Auras. Consult note on Mn., vii., 660.— Lata. " Luxu- 
riant." — Quippe solo natura subest. H Since a native principle lies 
hid beneath the soil," i. e., since it is their native soil. The poet 
means that there is some hidden power in the earth which causes 
it to produce particular plants, and these, therefore, grow luxuriant 
and strong in that soil which is adapted to give them birth. — Ta- 
men hcec quoque, &c. The way to tame these luxuriant wild trees 
is either to ingraft a good fruit upon them, or else to transplant 
them. 

Mutata. " Changed in situation," i. e„ changed from their original 

position, by being thus transferred to trenches. Commentators 

make a great difficulty here, by supposing mutata to refer to a 

change of nature ; and, as this cannot be effected by transplanta- 

B b 2 



294 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

tion alone, they change aut into at. But the only change meant by 
the poet is that of place, and, that a change of place alone will me- 
liorate wild fruits, we find expressly stated in Palladius (xii., 7, 11) 
and Theophrastus {De Caus. Plant., hi., 23). — Subactis. "Dug for 
the purpose," i. e., well dug and carefully prepared. — Exuerint. 
" Will speedily put off." Observe here the employment of the fu- 
ture perfect to denote a quickly-completed future action. (Compare 
Zumpt, L. G., § 511. — Billroth, L. G., § 224.) — In quascumque voces 
artes. " To whatsoever artificial modes of culture you may call 
them." Artes here has reference to human art and industry, and 
is opposed to natura, or the natural mode of propagation. 

53-56. Nee non et sterilis, &c. " The tree, too, that arises un- 
productive from the bottom of the parent stem." Supply arbos, 
which is expressed soon after in verse 57. The reference is here 
to a tree proceeding from a sucker. The mode of ameliorating 
these is by setting them out in open ground. With regard to the 
epithet sterilis, as here employed, it must be remarked that two 
kinds of trees are actually meant by it ; those, namely, that produce 
nothing at all, and those, also, that produce fruit, but of so inferior 
a quality as to be of no value whatever. (Compare note on verse 
56.) — Hoc faciei. " Will do the same," i. e., will lay aside its wild 
and unproductive nature. — Nunc. " At present," i. e., in its native 
and wild state. — Crescentique adimunt foetus, &c. "And take from 
it, while growing> all principle of increase, or else dry it up while 
bearing." Foetus here is not exactly equivalent to fructus, as Heyne 
maintains, but rather, as Voss explains it, to "das Wachsthum, den 
Trieb des Holzes." — Uruntve. We have given this reading instead 
of the common uruntque. Two classes of trees, as already remark- 
ed, are evidently meant, the utterly barren, and those that do yield 
fruit, but poor and withered. Observe that uro here has reference 
to drying up the sap, and thus spoiling the produce. 

57-60. Jam. " Again." Jam is here used to mark a transition, 
and is equivalent to porro. (Tursell., Par tic. Lai , vol. iil, p. 137, ed. 
Hand.) — Qua scmintbus jactis, &c. He now comes to the third class 
of wild trees, those, namely, that spring up from seed which has fall- 
en from the parent tree. — Seminibus jactis. " From seed scattered 
by the parent tree." — Tarda venit. " Comes on slowly." — Seris 
?iepotibus. Ursinus, strangely enough, maintains that the late pos- 
terity of the tree are meant ; and, what is still more surprising, he 
is followed by Manso. — Pomaque degenerant, &c. "And fruits de- 
generate," &c, i. e., and if the tree in question be a fruit-tree, the 
fruit always degenerates. Observe that poma is here used in a gen- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 295 

eral sense for any kind of tree-fruit. — Et turpes avibus, &c. If it 
be not a fruit-tree, but the vine, the latter falls off and bears sour 
clusters, fit only to be a booty for birds. — Uva. Put poetically for 
vitis. 

61-64. Scilicet, omnibus, &c. " Thus, you will see, labour is to 
be expended upon all." Observe the force of scilicet here, as con- 
taining a general reference to what has just gone before. — Cogendcz 
in sukum. " Are to be compelled to take up their abode in a 
trench." — Sed truncis ole<z melius, &c. " But olives succeed better 
by truncheons ;" literally, " answer better," i. e., answer or cor- 
respond to the wishes of the husbandman. The poet here speaks 
of the several ways of cultivating trees by human industry and 
skill. — Truncis. Truncheons are the thick branches sawn in pieces 
of a foot or a foot and a half in length. These are to be planted as 
fresh as possible. Truncus is properly a trunk of a tree, divested 
of its head ; and hence these talece, or branches with their heads 
cut off, are called trunci. — Solido de robore. " From the solid wood," 
i. e., by settings, or fixing the large branches like stakes into the 
earth. — Paphice. Myrtles are called Paphian, from Paphos, a city of 
Cyprus, where Venus was particularly worshipped. The myrtle 
was sacred to that goddess. 

65-68. Plantis. " From young plants," i. e., from suckers in 
some cases, and from seedlings in others. Suckers alone cannot 
be meant here, since the oak, palm, and fir do not produce any, 
and therefore seedlings, also, must be included under the term. 
The whole point is ably and fully discussed by Voss, and the usage 
in the case of planta very clearly defined. (Voss, Erkidrung, &c, 
vol., iii., p. 280, seqq.) — Et dura. Many MSS. have edura, but et is 
required by what follows. — Herculeaque arbos, &c. " And the um- 
brageous tree of the Herculean crown," i. e., the tree that spreads 
forth its foliage for the crown of Hercules. The poplar is meant, 
a tree sacred to Hercules. (Consult note on Eclog., vii., 61.) — Cha- 
onii patris. The tree referred to is the oak, sacred to Jupiter, who 
is here called the " Chaonian father," from Chaonia, in Epirus, 
where his famous oracle of Dodona was situated. (Compare note 
on Georg., i., 8.) — Nascitur. " Is thus produced." — Casus visura. 
marinos. The abies is our yew-leaved fir-tree, says Martyn. Its 
wood was much used by the ancients in ship-building. 

69-72. Inseritur vero et, &c. " But both the rugged arbute is in- 
grafted with the offspring of the walnut, and planes, in themselves 
unproductive of fruit, have borne (the produce of) vigorous apple- 
trees," i. e., arbutes have been made, by grafting, to bear walnuts, 



296 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

and plane-trees, apples. The truth of this assertion is utterly denied 
by modern physiologists. No such thing was ever done in any age 
or country ; and we must either, as Miller remarks, suppose the 
trees which now pass under these same appellations to be different 
from those known at that time under those names, or that we have 
here a mere license taken by the poet to embellish his poem. 
(Compare note on verse 34.) — We have given verse 69 as Wei- 
chert proves it should be read. The common text has, " Inseritur 
xero ex foztu nucis arbutus horrid, a" making a very rugged hyperme- 
ter. (Consult Weichert, Comment, de Versu poetarum epicor. hyperme- 
tro, p. 25 ; and John, ad loc.) 

Castanea fagus, &c. "The beech has bloomed with the flower 
of the chestnut, and the mountain-ash has been hoary with the 
white blossom of the pear-tree," i. e., the chestnut has been in- 
grafted on the beech, and the pear on the mountain-ash. Observe 
the zeugma in incanuit, which is understood, after fagus, in the sim- 
ple sense of floruit, for the chestnut bears no white flower. The 
common text has fagos, making castanea the nominative to gessere 
understood ; but, according to the lection which we have adopted, 
the clause, when completed, is castanea fagus flore incanuit, making 
castanea the genitive, depending on flore. — Glandcmque sues, &c. 
The elm has borne acorns, having been ingrafted with the oak. 
On this whole subject of ingrafting, consult what has been said 
just above. — Fregere. "Have crunched." 

73-82. Nee modus inserere, &c. "Neither is the manner of in- 
grafting and of inoculating one and the same." Inserere and impo- 
nere are poetic, for inserendi and imponendi. The poet here shows 
the difference between grafting and inoculating. Inoculation, or 
budding, is performed by making a slit in the bark of one tree and 
inserting the bud of another into it. There are several ways of 
grafting now in use, but the only one which Virgil describes is what 
we call cleft-grafting, which is performed by cleaving the head of 
the stock, and placing a scion from another tree in the cleft. {Mar- 
tyn, ad loc.) — Gemma. " The buds." — Tenues tunicas. " The thin 
coats," i. e., the thin membranes of the bark. — Angustus in ipso, &c. 
"A small slit is made in the knot itself." Observe that nodus and 
gemma are here, in one sense, synonymous, the nodus being the pro- 
tuberance on the bark beneath which the gemma lies. — Germen. "A 
bud." — Udo inolescere libro. "To grow into, and become united 
with the moist bark." 

Aut rursum. "Or, on the other hand." He now describes the 
process of ingrafting. — Enodes trunci. " Knotless stocks " Trun- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 297 

cus here denotes the stem or stock of a young tree after the head has 
been lopped off, and must not be confounded with the trwnci men- 
tioned in verse 63. — Rcsecantur. The reference is to the incision 
made in the stock. — In solidum. " Into the solid wood." Supply 
lignum, or truncum. — Feraces plantce. "Fruitful scions," i. e., cut- 
tings from fruit-bearing trees. — Nee longum tempus, &c. "Nor 
does a long time elapse, when a tall tree goes forth," &c. ; more 
literally, " nor is there a long time, and a tall tree has gone forth," 
&c. On this use of et, in connecting two clauses, when rapidity of 
action is intended to be expressed, consult the remarks of Hand 
(ad Turscll., vol. ii., p. 482, seqq.). The same idea of celerity is im- 
plied in the perfect, exiit. (Compare note on Georg., i., 330.) — Ra- 
mis felicibus. "With productive branches." — Et non sua poma. 
"And fruits not its own." 

83-86. Prceterea, genus haud unum, &c. In this passage the poet 
just mentions that there are several species of trees, and speaks 
of the boundless variety of fruits. — Loto. By the " lotus" is here 
meant, as Martyn thinks, the jujube, a native of the south of Eu- 
rope. The fruit is of the shape and size of an olive, and the pulp 
has a sweet taste like honey. — Idceis cyparissis. The cypress is 
here called "Idaean," not from Mount Ida, in Troas, but from that 
in the Island of Crete, whence it came first to Tarentum, and spread 
thence over all Italy. (Plin., H. N, xvi., 33, 60.) Observe that in 
cyparissus we have the Greek form (nvnapLoooc), instead of the reg- 
ular Latin one, cupressus. — Nee pingues unam, &c. " Nor are the 
rich olives produced of one and the same form, the orchades, name- 
ly, and radii, and the pausia, with bitter berry." Out of the al- 
most innumerable varieties of the olive, the poet mentions only 
three : the Orchades, of a round form ; the radii, long, and so called 
from its similitude to a weaver's shuttle ; and the pausia. The bit- 
ter berry of this last species is mentioned, because it is to be gath- 
ered before it is quite ripe, for then it has a bitter or austere taste ; 
but when it is quite ripe, it has a very pleasant flavour. 

87-88. Pomaque et Alcino'i silvce. " Apples, too, and the fruits of 
the garden of Alcinoiis (are not produced alike in appearance)", i. e., 
apples, and other fruits, also, are equally marked by great varieties 
in appearance. Poma is here used, in a special sense, for a partic- 
ular kind of fruit, while by Alcino'i silvce. (literally, " the woods of 
Alcinoiis," i. e., fruit-trees) are meant other fruits in general ; and, 
in order to complete the clause, we are to suppose non unam in fa- 
ciem nascuntur understood, nee being resolved into the negative non 
with the connecting conjunction. Alcinous was king of Phaeacia, 



298 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

another name for the Island of Corcyra, and was famous for the 
beauty of his gardens, of which Homer has left us a glowing de- 
scription. (Od., vii., 112, seqq.) — Crustumiis, Syriisque piris, &c. 
The " Crustumian" pears were reckoned the best sort. Columella 
gives them the first place in his catalogue, and Pliny says they were 
the best flavoured. They derived their name from Crustumium, a 
town of the Sabines, in the vicinity of Fidenae. The " Syrian" 
pears were also called Tarentina, according to Columella. The 
" volemi" derived their name from their size, since they were said 
to fill the palm (volam) of the hand. Some translators, without any 
very definite authority, render the three names as follows : "War- 
den, and Bergamot, and Pound pears." 

90-96. Methymnao. Methymna was a city of Lesbos, an island 
famed as well for the abundance as the excellence of its wines.— 
Sunt Thasia vites. Thasus was an island in the ^Egean, off the 
coast of Thrace, and opposite the mouth of the Nestus. The Tha- 
sian wine is mentioned by Pliny as being in high esteem. — Mareo- 
tides alba. " The white Mareotic ones." These vines grew near 
the Lake Mareotis, in the vicinity of Alexandrea, in Egypt, and fur- 
nished a light, sweetish, white wine, with a delicate perfume, and 
of easy digestion. — Habiles. " Adapted." — Et passo Psithia utilior. 
" And the Psithian, better fitted for wine made of sun-dried grapes." 
With passo supply vino. The passum was a wine made of half dried 
grapes, which were either allowed to remain on the vine until they 
had shrunk to nearly one half their original bulk, or else were gath- 
ered when fully ripe, and, being carefully picked, were hung to dry 
in the sun, upon poles or mats, six or seven feet from the ground. 
— Lageos. This was a species of vine which, according to the old 
commentators, produced a grape of the colour of a hare (/.uyeioi;, 
from Xayuc, " a hare"), and hence Servius terms it leporaria. Little 
is known respecting it. 

Precia. "The early ripe." Servius says these vines were call- 
ed precia, quasi prcecoqua, because their grapes soon ripened. — 
Rhatica. The Rhaetian vine came from Rhaetia, a country occupy- 
ing a part of the Alps, and lying to the north of Italy and east of 
Helvetia. Virgil here bestows high praise upon it, making it yield 
to the Falernian alone, partly from its intrinsic excellence, and 
partly out of compliment to Augustus, with whom the Rhaetian was 
a favourite wine — Contende. " Presume to vie." — Falernis. The 
Falernian was the most famous of all the Italian wines. The vine- 
yards producing it lay on the southern declivities of the range of 
hills, which commenced in the neighbourhood of Sinuessa, and ex- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II, 299 

tended to a considerable distance inland. The best growth of the 
Falernian was the Massic. 

97-100. Aminaa vites. The Aminaean vines, according to the 
best authorities, appear to have flourished originally at Aminaeum, 
a place in Thessaly, and to have been subsequently brought from 
that quarter into Italy. (Consult Heyne, ad loc, in Var. Led.) — 
Firmissima vina. "A very firm-bodied wine," i. e., yielding a very 
firm-bodied wine. Observe the peculiar apposition between vites 
and vina.— Tmolius assurgit quibus, &c. " Unto which the Tmolian 
mountain, and the Phanaean king himself, do homage ;" literally, 
"arise," i. e., for the purpose of paying homage. The produce of 
Mount Tmolus, in Lydia, and that of the country adjacent to Phanae, 
a promontory in the Island of Chios, are both here said to acknowl- 
edge their inferiority to the Aminaean wine, though that of Tmolus 
was famed for its quality, while the Phanaean wine was so superior 
as to be honoured with the title of royalty, and to be called by the 
poet the Phanaean king, i. e., the king among wines. We have 
given Tmolius assurgit, &c, as sanctioned by the best MSS., for the 
common reading, Tmolus et assurgit, &c. ; with Tmolius we must 
supply mons. 

Argitisque minor. "And the smaller Argitis." Another kind 
of vine, less prized than this, was, according to Columella (iii., 2), 
falsely styled " the greater Argitis." The Argitis is thought to 
have derived its name from Argos, the capital of Argolis. More 
probably, however, it received its appellation from the white colour 
of its grape (apyog, " white"). Virgil here praises it for the abun- 
dance of juice which the grape affords, and for the extraordinary 
durability of its wine. We may discover some analogy between it 
and the best growths of the Rhine, which are obtained from a small 
white grape, and are remarkable for their permanency. (Hender- 
son's History of Anc. and Mod. Wines, p. 78.) — Certaverit. " Will 
feel inclined to contend." The perfect subjunctive has here the 
force of a softened future. (Compare Zumpt, L. G., § 527.) — Tan- 
tumfiuere. " In yielding so much juice." 

101-102. Non ego te transierim. " I do not think I will pass thee 
over in silence." Observe the employment of the perfect subjunctive 
to denote a softened future. (Zumpt, I. c.) — Dis et mensis secundis. 
" To the gods and second courses." The second course consisted 
of fruits, and libations were accustomed to be then poured out to 
the gods. The poet means, therefore, that the Rhodian was a fa- 
vourite wine at desserts, and much used also in libations at such a 
time.— Bumaste. The Bumastus derived its name from its bearing 



300 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

large-sized grapes. The term is of Greek origin, [3ov/j.a<jToc (supply 
a/j.neloc), from (3ov, the intensive prefix, and fiaaroc, " the female 
breast." Another name is bumamma. 

103-108. Sed neque, quam multce. species, &c. " But neither is 
there a number for as many species as exist, nor for the names 
which they have, nor, in truth, is it of any value to attempt to em- 
brace them by number." Observe that neque enim is here for neque 
vero, the particle enim having in this combination a strong confirm- 
atory power. (Hand, ad Tursell., ii., p. 389, seqq.) — Libyci cequoris. 
" Of the desert plain of Libya." The reference is here to the sandy 
plains of the Libyan or African desert, not to the surface of the 
Libyan Sea. — Zephyro. "By the western blast." — Navigiis violen- 
tior incidit. " Falls with more than ordinary violence on the barks 
of the mariners." — Ioniifluctus. "Ionian billows," *. e., billows of 
the Ionian Sea. The Ionian Sea lay between Lower Italy and 
Greece. At the Acroceraunian promontory in Epirus it contracts 
itself, and begins to form the Adriatic Gulf. 

109-113. Nee vero, &c. The poet now informs us that different 
trees and plants require different soils. — Terra ferre omnes, &c. 
" Can every sort of land bear all sorts of trees." Supply after 
omnia the words genera arborum. — Fluminibus. " About rivers." 
Equivalent to ad flumina. — Myrtetis latissima. The myrtle is a 
tender plant, and avoids the cold mountains and other exposed 
places. It loves the warm sandy shores. (Compare Georg., iv., 
124: " amantes litora myrtos.") — Apertos colles. "The open, sunny 
hills." — Aquilonem. "A northern exposure." 

114-115. Aspice et extremis, &c. "Behold, also, the world sub- 
dued by the most distant cultivators," i. e., behold, also, the most 
distant parts of the cultivated globe. We are now told that differ- 
ent countries are distinguished from one another by the trees which 
they produce. — Pictosque Gelonos. " And the tattooed Geloni." 
The Geloni were a Scythian race, and accustomed, like many other 
barbarous tribes in their part of the world, to tattoo their persons. 
The Arabians and Geloni are mentioned by the poet as marking 
the extreme limits of the world, and his meaning, when para- 
phrased, will be this : Look from Arabia in the East to the far Gelo- 
ni in the North, and you will find that, throughout the whole inter- 
vening tract, countries are distinguished from one another by par- 
ticular trees. 

116-119. India. The Arabians, in the poetical geography of 
Virgil, are ranked, as appears from the preceding verse, among the 
Indi. (Voss, ad loc.) — Ebenum. Virgil has been accused of a mis- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 301 

take here, in saying that India alone produces ebony, since, accord- 
ing to other ancient writers, this species of wood grew also in 
^Ethiopia, and, indeed, the best kind came from the latter country. 
The poet, however, merely follows Theophrastus in this, who, in 
speaking of the trees of India, says that ebony is peculiar to that 
country, Idiov ical k6evn rfjc x^P a C ravrv^. The whole difficulty 
arises from the loose and unsettled way in which the ancient wri- 
ters were accustomed to employ the terms India and ^Ethiopia. 
Herodotus (iii., 97) mentions ebony as part of the presents brought 
in considerable quantities to the King of Persia by the people of 
^Ethiopia : it formed part of the contributions, also, exacted by the 
monarchs of Egypt from the conquered tribes of ^Ethiopia and Asia, 
{Wilkinson, vol. iii., p. 169.) Dioscorides describes two kinds, one 
^Ethiopian, which was considered the best, and the other Indian, 
which was intermixed with whitish stripes and spotted ; and hence 
commentators have disputed whether there were one or two kinds 
of ebony. But the fact is, that several trees yield this kind of wood, 
and all belong to the. genus Diospyrus. Owing to the known geo- 
graphical division of this genus, the ancients must have derived 
their ebony either from the peninsula of India and the Island of 
Ceylon, or by the coasting trade from Madagascar, for no species 
of diospyrus has yet been discovered by botanists in the upper parts 
of Egypt, or in Abyssinia, though it is not improbable that some 
may be found, as the climate is well suited to their existence. 
Commentators, therefore, would seem to have been too hasty in 
condemning our poet. (Penny Cyclopedia, vol. ix., p. 254.) 

Solis est thurea virga Sabms. " The Sabaei alone have the frank- 
incense-yielding bough." (Consult note on Georg., i., 57.) — Sudantia. 
"Exuding." — Bahama. The reference is to the resin or gum of 
the Amyris opobalsamum. (Valpy, ad loc.) — Et baccas semper fron- 
dentis acanthi. " And the gum globules of the ever-blooming acan- 
thus." The tree here meant is the Egyptian acacia, from which 
we obtain gum Arabic. A difficulty has arisen with regard to Vir- 
gil's use of the term " bacca." Some suppose him to have meant 
the pods, some the round flowers, and some the beans, or seeds, 
contained in the pods. The poet, however, seems evidently to 
have had in view the globules of gum. (Martyn, ad loc. — Yates, in 
Class. Museum, n. vii., p. 20.) The acanthus, therefore, which is 
here meant, must not be confounded with the one mentioned in 
the fourth Eclogue (v. 20). Sir J. E. Smith makes Virgil's acan- 
thus to be the holly ; but consult the remarks of Yates, p. 9, seqq. 

120-121. Nemora JEthiopum, &c. The allusion in this line is to 
Co 



302 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

the cotton-plant. The term " Mthiopum," however, must be taken 
in a very general sense, since Pliny (H. N., xix., 1, 2) speaks of the 
cotton-plant as growing in Upper Egypt, while Herodotus and 
Arrian both mention it as indigenous in India. — Velleraque ut foliis, 
&c. " And how the Seres comb the fine fleeces from the leaves 
of trees." The Seres were a people of Upper Asia, and are sup- 
posed to have been identical with, or else closely bordering upon 
the Chinese. They furnished the nations of the West with silk, and 
the allusion here is to that product. The ancients, however, were, 
in general, ignorant of the manner in which it was spun by silk- 
worms, and the popular belief among them was that the silk was a 
sort of down gathered from the leaves of trees. (Plin., N. H., vi., 
17. With which compare, on the other hand, the surprisingly ac- 
curate account, considering his imperfect sources of information, 
that is given by Aristotle, Hist. An., v., 19). 

122-125. Oceano propior. India, according to the popular belief 
of the day, was the farthest country of the world to the east, and 
bordered directly upon the ocean. It, of course, according to this 
view, included Serica, or the country of the Seres. — Extremi sinus 
orbis. " The curvature of the extremity of the world (in that quar- 
ter)," i. e., the extreme curvature of the world in the eastern quar- 
ter of the globe. Sinus here, as Voss remarks, does not denote a 
bay or gulf, for then the language of the text would be sinus 
Oceaniy but it means the swelling out, or bending forth of the earth 
in this quarter, in accordance with the peculiar notions then pre- 
vailing in relation to the shape of the world : " der Bogen oder die 
Riindung des eiformigen Erdkreises im Osten." (Voss, ad loc.) 

Ubi aera vincere summum, &c. " Where no arrows have ever been 
able to surmount in their flight the airy summit of the tree ;" 
literally, " the highest air of the tree," i. e., where no arrow has 
ever been able to surmount the lofty trees that grow there, so as to 
pass through the air at the top of the tree without touching the tree 
itself. The most exaggerated accounts are given by the ancient 
writers of the size of the trees that grew in India. Pliny makes the 
same statement as Virgil, that some were too high for any arrow 
to be shot over them. (H. N., vii., 2. Compare, also, Strabo, xv., 
p. 694, Cos., and Diodorus Siculus, xvii., 90.) — Non tarda. " Not 
unskilful." This verse has been suspected of being spurious by 
Heyne, Bryant, Brunck, and Manso. One reason for this opinion 
appears to be that the epithet tardus occurs again in the very next 
verse. In reply to this, Wagner cites the following instances of a 
similar repetition. Mn., i., 504 (medios — media) ; Mn., v., 780 (pec- 
tore — pectus); Georg., i., 301 (cur ant — euros). 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 303 

126-135. Tristes succos, &c. "The bitter juices and long-abi- 
ding flavour of the happy apple." The fruit here meant is the cit- 
ron, or the produce of the Citrus medica, and belongs to the same 
family with the lemon and lime. It is called "/eZiz," from its happy 
and successful employment as a means of cure in cases of poison- 
ing. The " tristes succi" indicate, according to Fee, the bitter taste 
of the rind, for it is ot the rind, as he thinks, that the poet here 
points out the medical uses : he makes no allusion to the refresh- 
ing effects of the citron, but only to its tonic action, and this latter 
could not refer to the juice, the properties of which were not, as 
yet, well known. {Flore de Virgile, p. 106.) Martyn, also, is of 
opinion that the poet either refers to the outer rind, or to the seeds, 
which are covered with a bitter skin. The juice of the pulp is sub- 
acid merely. 

Frasentius. " More instantly efficacious." — Miscueruntque herbas, 
&c. This line is quite out of place here, and belongs to Georg., iii., 
283. It relates to love-potions and magic incantations, which are 
of course quite irrelevant here ; and, besides, it separates quo non 
prasentius ullum by too wide an interval from auxiliumvenit. — Agit. 
" Expels." — Faciem. " In look," i. e., in general appearance. — 
Laurus erat. " It would actually be a bay-tree." The indicative 
(erat) is here employed instead of the subjunctive (esset), to denote 
that, a part having already come to pass (faciem simillima lauro), 
the whole would actually have taken place, had not a particular ob- 
stacle been thrown in the way (si non alium jactaret odorem). (Com- 
pare Zumpt, L. G., § 519, b.) 

Ad prima tenax. " Tenacious to the first degree." — Animas et 
olentia, &c, " The Medes correct with this fruit their breaths and 
fetid mouths, and cure their asthmatic old men." — Illo. Supply 
malo, not flore. 

136-139. Sed neque Medorum, silvce, &c. The poet, having spo- 
ken of the most remarkable trees in foreign lands, takes occasion 
here to make a beautiful digression in praise of Italy. — Silvce ditis- 
sima. "Most richly abounding in trees." — Ganges. The well- 
known river of India. — Auro turbidus Hermus. The Hermus, a 
Lydian river, receives the Pactolus, renowned for its golden sands, 
and empties into the Smyrnean Gulf. — Bactra. The capital of the 
rich region of Bactriana in Upper Asia, to the northwest of India. — 
Indi. Martyn thinks that Virgil here means ^Ethiopia, since he has 
already spoken of India, properly so called, in mentioning the Gan- 
ges. Poetic geography, however, must not be too strictly examin- 
ed. In mentioning the Ganges, the poet merely intended to dwell 



304 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

on the idea of a noble river watering a fair region ; now, however, 
he refers to the whole country generally. 

Totaque thuriferis, &c. " And all Panchaia, rich with its incense- 
bearing sands," i. e., the sandy soil of which yields richest incense. 
Panchaia was a fabled island in the Indian Ocean, which Euhemerus 
pretended to have discovered. The poet borrows the name from 
Euhemerus, but evidently refers to Arabia Felix. 

140-144. H<zc loca, &c. The meaning intended to be conveyed 
is this, that Italy is no less fertile and rich a land than Colchis, and 
yet wants those monstrous creations which have rendered that re- 
gion so peculiarly ill-famed. — Tauri spirantes naribus ignem. Allu- 
ding to the story of Jason and the Argonautic expedition. ^Eetes, 
king of Colchis, agreed to give him the golden fleece, provided he 
could yoke the brass-footed bulls. These were the gifts of Vulcan 
to ^Eetes, in number two, and breathing flame from their nostrils. 
When he had yoked these, he was to plough with them a piece of 
land, and sow the serpent's teeth which ^Eetes possessed, for Mi- 
nerva had given him one half of those the other half of which 
Cadmus sowed at Thebes. (Keightley's Mythology, p. 472.) — Inter- 
fere. "Have upturned," i. e., with the plough. — Nee galeis densis- 
que, &c. " Nor has a crop of men bristled on the view with hel- 
mets and thick-clustering spears." After Jason had sown the ser- 
pent's teeth, a crop of armed men sprang up and prepared to attack 
him. Acting by the advice of Medea, however, he flung stones 
among them, and while they were fighting with one another about 
these, he fell upon and slew them all. 

Gravida fruges. u . Loaded harvests." — Bacchi Massicus humor. 
The Massic was the best growth of the famed Falernian wine. 
(Consult note on verse 96.) — Tenent. Y or possident. 

145-148. Hinc btllator equus, &c. M Hence the war-steed, with 
neck raised proudly on high, rushes into the battle-field," i. e., from 
this land comes the war-steed that proudly rushes into the thickest 
of the fight. The poet here praises Italy for its fine steeds, and 
immediately after for its excellent cattle, &c. — Albi greges. '• Thy 
white herds." The cattle on the banks of the Clitumnus, a river 
of Umbria, and tributary of the Tiber, were of a milk-white hue, 
and were selected as victims in the celebration of a Roman triumph. 
— Maxima victima. "Greatest of victims." — Duxere. The bulls, 
being led before the triumphal chariot, are here said poetically to 
lead the triumph itself. — Templa deum. The temple of Jupiter on 
the Capitoline Hill, with its two additional shrines, or temples of 
Minerva and Juno. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 305 

149-150. Hie ver assiduum, &c. He describes the temperate and 
delightful climate of Italy by saying it enjoys a perpetual spring, 
and summer-warmth in such months as make winter in other lands. 
— Alienis mensibus. "In months not its own," i. e., when winter 
reigns elsewhere. — Bis pomis utilis arbor. If we believe the ac- 
counts of ancient writers, there is less exaggeration in this than 
would at first appear. Yarro (i., 7) and Pliny (H. N., xvi., 27, 50) 
both make mention of certain fruit-trees that bore twice a year ; 
and the latter mentions a vine that yielded grapes three times du- 
ring the same period. 

151-154. At rabidce tigres absunt, &c. "Ay, but (what is more), 
the ravening tigers are far away." Observe here the peculiar force 
of at. Virgil wishes to impress upon the reader that Italy enjoys 
the fecundity of warm climates without their general evils, namely, 
tigers, lions, serpents, and poisons. — Semina. " Breed." — Nee mis- 
eros fallunt, &c. "Nor does the wolfsbane deceive the wretched 
beings that gather it." Virgil here, by using the plural aconita, would 
seem, in fact, to refer to poisonous herbs in general under the name 
merely of one kind. The aconitum of the poet is the Aconitum na- 
pcllus of Linnaeus (gen. 928). As regards the meaning intended to 
be conveyed by the words of the text commentators differ. Dios- 
corides expressly states that the aconitum does grow in Italy, on 
the mountains of the Vestini (c. 78), and hence Servius thinks the 
poet's idea to be this, that the wolfsbane is too well known in Italy 
to be gathered by mistake. More probably, however, Virgil merely 
means that the plant in question is rare in Italy compared with 
other countries, especially with Pontus, where it was said to be in- 
digenous. (Compare Pausan., v. 26. — Plin., H. N., vi., 1, 1. — Ovid, 
Met., vii., 415, seq.) — Tanto tractu. "Of so great a length (as in 
other lands)." Wonderful accounts are given by the ancient wri- 
ters of the great size of the serpent in India, Africa, &e. (Plin., 
H. N., viii., 14.) 

155-160. Operumque labor em. "And stupendous works." — Con- 
gesta manu. " Built up by the hand of man." — Prceruptis saxis. 
These are the early hill-cities of Italy, now generally supposed to 
have been of Pelasgic or Etrurian origin. — Subterlabentia. " Gli- 
ding beneath," i, e., at the foot of. — Mare, quod supra, &c. The two 
seas here alluded to are the Adriatic, or upper, and the Tyrrhenian, 
or lower sea. — Allv.it. " Laves its shores." — Te, Lari maxime. 
" Thee, Larius, greatest in length." The Lake Larius, now Lago di 
Como, lay in Cisalpine Gaul, to the north of the Po, and east of the 
Lake Verbanus. It is the longest of the Italian lakes, though mfe- 
C c 2 



306 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IE. 

rior to the others in breadth. — Assurgens. "Arising at times." 
The allusion is to sudden and violent storms, to which this lake is 
subject. — Benace. Lake Benacus is meant, situate in Cisalpine 
Gaul, and from which the Mincius flows into the Po. It is now the 
Lago di Gar da. 

161-166. Lucrinoque addita claustra. "And the barriers added 
to the Lucrine Lake." The allusion is to the famous Julian har- 
bour (Portus Julius), so called in honour of Augustus, and con- 
structed by Agrippa under his orders. The Lucrine was a lake 
in Italy, near Cumae, on the coast of Campania. According to Dio 
Cassius (xlviii., 50), there were three lakes in this quarter, lying 
one behind the other. The outermost one, however, or Lacus Tyr- 
rhenus, was properly only a bay. The middle one was the Lucrine, 
and the innermost one, the Lake Avernus. The Lucrine was sep- 
arated from the outermost lake, or bay, by a natural dike, eight stadia 
long, and of a chariot's breadth. There was also a separation be- 
tween the Lucrine and the Avernian Lakes. The outer dike, or 
the one between the Lucrine and the outer bay, was, according to 
Strabo, accustomed, in storms, to be washed by the waves, thus 
rendering it almost impassable on foot. Agrippa thereupon raised, 
it higher. Dio Cassius adds, that the same commander cut through 
the dike at either end, where it joined the land. These two open- 
ings were then strongly fortified. Agrippa, at the same time, made 
an entrance through the intervening land into the Avernian Lake, 
thus joining it with the Lucrine, and cut down the thick forests that 
stood upon its banks. The whole interior space occupied by the 
two lakes was called the Julian harbour, the two entrances to 
which were in the outer dike. The object in forming this harbour 
was chiefly to procure a place along the coast fit for exercising and 
training a body of seamen previous to the contest with Sextus 
Pompeius. What the poet means here by claustra, however, is 
quite uncertain. Pliny speaks of the "mare Tyrrhenum a Lucrino 
molibus seclusum" which probably means that the dike was made 
high enough by Agrippa to keep out the waters of the bay in time 
of storms, entrances being, of course, left for the harbour itself. 
Perhaps, too, under the term claustra we are to include moles, or 
breakwaters, constructed at each opening. 

Jndignatum. " Giving vent to its indignation." — Julia qua ponto, 
&c. " Where the Julian wave resounds afar, the ocean pouring in, 
and the Tyrrhenian tide is let into the now troubled waters of 
Avernus." The meaning is simply this : the sea being kept out by 
the increased height of the dike, over which it could no longer wash, 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 307 

two powerful currents set into each opening in the dike, where en- 
trance alone was permitted ; and a similar current ran from the 
Lucrine Lake into the Avernian, disturbing its before quiet waters. 
The noise of the agitated waters forming the currents in question 
is ascribed by the poet to the indignation of the sea at not being al- 
lowed free ingress. — H<zc eadem argenti, &c. " This same land has 
disclosed in her bosom veins of silver, and the metal of copper, and 
has flowed most abundantly with gold." Observe here the pecu- 
liar employment of the past tense. The working of mines in Italy 
was forbidden in the poet's time, and had been so long before by 
an express decree of the senate (Plin., H. N., iii., 20, 24 ; xxxiii., 4, 
21, &c.); still, however, there were indications enough remaining 
to show that mining had formerly been carried on with success. 

167-168. Genus acre virum. "A warlike race of inhabitants." — 
Marsos. The Marsi were a very valiant people of Italy, whose ter- 
ritory lay to the northeast of Latium, and southeast of the country 
of the Sabines. — Pubemque Sabellam. " And the Sabellian youth." 
The Samnites, in particular, are meant. In strictness, however, the 
epithet Sabellian belonged to all the tribes that sprang from the old 
Sabine stock. (Compare Niebuhr, Rom. Hist., vol. i., p. 71, scqq.) — 
Assuetumque malo, &c. " And the Ligurian, accustomed to priva- 
tion." The Ligurians inhabited that part of Italy which lay along 
the shores of the Sinus Ligusticus, or Gulf of Genoa, having the 
Varus on the west, and the Macra on the southeast, and bounded 
on the north by the Alps. Their soil was poor and stony, and sub- 
jected them to a life of privation and hardship. — Volscosque verutos. 
" And the Volsci, armed with spit-like spear." The veru was a kind 
of spear resembling a spit, whence its name. It was used by the 
Volsci and Samnites, and was adopted from them by the Roman 
infantry. Its shaft was three and a half feet long, its point five 
inches. — (Veget., ii., 15.) 

169-172. Decios, Marios, &c. All names memorable in the his- 
tory of Rome. In the case of Marios and Camillos, where but a 
single individual of the name is conspicuous in history, the plural, 
nevertheless, is employed to denote all others who resembled them 
in character and exploits, and are therefore ranked with them un- 
der one and the same class and name. — Scipiadas duros bello. " The 
Scipios, inured to war." The allusion is to the elder and younger 
Africanus. The term properly denotes " the sons of Scipio," i. e., 
the members of the Scipio family, tracing their descent from the 
founder of the line. As regards the form itself, compare the re- 
mark of Priscian : " Virgilius secundum Grcecam formam Scipiades 



308 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS — BOOK It. 

dixit, and rov Hkc7t-Icjvo^ quum Scipionides dicere dcbuit." {Prise, if., 
6, 33, p. 582, Putsch.)— Maxime. "Greatest of all." — Extremis 
Asia in oris. After the fall of Antony, and the reduction of Egypt, 
Caesar Octavianus, on his return by land through Syria and Asia 
Minor (A.U.C. 724-5), visited the Eastern frontier, and then re- 
ceived an embassy from Phrahates, the sovereign of Parthia. (Dio 
Cass., li., 8.) — Imbellem avertis, &C. " Art turning away the hum- 
bled Indian from the towers of Rome." By " Indurri' are here meant, 
according to Jahn and others, the Parthians and th£ other nations 
of the remote East, who had furnished auxiliaries to Antony for the 
battle of Actium. Humbled in spirit by the result of that conflict, 
they now sued for peace from the victor. Some think that these 
lines were subsequently inserted by Virgil, when an embassy, as 
Suetonius states, came from India to Rome. But consult Voss, 
ad loc. 

173-176. Frugum. " Of fertility."— Saturnia. Alluding to the fa- 
bled residence of Saturn in Latium, after he had been driven from 
the skies. — Magna virum. " Mighty mother of a valiant race." Sup- 
ply parens. — Tibi. "For thee," i. e., in honour of thee. — Res an- 
tiques laudis et artis. "Themes of by-gone praise and skill," i. e., 
the subject of agriculture, held in high honour by our fathers, and 
skilfully acted upon by them. — Sanetos reclicdere fontes. "To open 
up the hallowed fountains," i. e., to be the first Roman that has 
ventured to draw poetic inspiration from such a source. — Ascraum- 
que cano, &c. " And (for thee) do I sing the Ascrean song through- 
out the Roman towns," t. e., and I follow, in this, the example of 
Hesiod, the bard of Ascra, who went from town to town of his na- 
tive land singing the song of agriculture, and teaching its precepts 
through the medium of verse. Hesiod was born at Ascra, in Boe- 
otia, and hence his strain, as well as Virgil's in imitation of it, is 
called the Ascrean song. 

177-181. Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis. " Now is the place for the 
native characters of soils," i. e., now is the time to treat of the 
natures of different soils. Here the poet speaks of the different 
soils that are proper for olives, vines, pasture, and corn. — Robora. 
" Strength," i. e., productive power — Et qua sit rebus, &c. " And 
what the natural tendency of each to yield particular products." — 
Diffi.ci.les. " Stubborn." Compare the explanation of Heyne : "pa- 
rum fer aces, quasi morosa.'''' — Collcsque maligni. "And hills that 
yield but scanty increase." Malignus is here opposed to largus. 
So the expression solum benignnm is employed, on the other hand, 
to denote one yielding abundant produce. — Tenuis argilla. " A hua- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 300 

gry clay." Argilla is not our common clay, but potter's clay, which, 
as Columella observes, is as hungry as sand. — Palladia, gaudent, 
&c. " Rejoice in a Palladian wood of the long-lived olive," i. c, 
arebest adapted to produce the long-lived olive, the tree of the god- 
dess Pallas or Minerva. The olive is remarkable for being a slow 
grower. The kind of soil mentioned in the text does not, however, 
agree with the olive in all countries. Pliny tells us that a fat soil 
suits them in some places, and a gravelly one in others. The soil 
near the Po, being subject to inundations, is damp : he, therefore, 
recommends hilly and stony grounds for the culture of the olive. 

182-187. Oleaster. " The wild olive." The Elazagnus angusti- 
folia of Linnaeus. — Pingtiis. "Fat." Virgil here recommends a 
fat, moist, fruitful soil for vines, in which he is said to differ from 
the other writers on agriculture, who say that a very fruitful soil 
will make generally a bad vineyard. But Celsus, as quoted by 
Columella, and also Palladius, differ very little from our poet. He 
recommends a loose soil (farissima quaique Lyao), they say it should 
be rather loose than hard ; he recommends a rich soil (fertilis ubcre 
campus), they say it should be rather rich than poor ; he recom- 
mends a rising ground (editus austro), and so do they ; he recom- 
mends a moist soil, they say it should not be dry. (Martyn, ad loc.) 
— Fertilis ubere. "Abounding in fertility." — Dispicere. " To look 
down upon." — Felicem limum. "The fertilizing mire." 

188-194. Editus. "Elevated." — Filicem. There are several 
kinds of fern. Martyn thinks that the one here meant is the female 
fern, or brake, which covers most of the uncultivated, hilly grounds 
in Italy. Its branching, strong roots impede the plough. — Olim. 
"In time" — Sujficiet. "Will supply." — Hie fertilis uva. Supply 
erit. — Hie laticis. "This will be rich in such liquor." The full 
form of expression is, hie talis laticis fertilis erit. — Pateris et auro. 
Hendiadys, for pateris aureis: — Libamus. " We pour forth in liba- 
tion." In libations, wines of the best quality were employed. — In- 
flavit quum pinguis, &c. " When the obese Etruscan has inflated 
his ivory pipe at the altars." A sacrifice was commonly attended 
by a piper (tibicen). and this class of persons were generally Etru- 
rians. Tney always partook of the food offered up, so that " to 
live like a piper" became a proverb applied to those who main- 
tained themselves at the expense of other people. From their at- 
tachment to good fare, the Tuscan pipers, as Servius remarks, be- 
came very fat. — Ebur. The pipe was made of various materials, 
but principally of boxwood, bone, or ivory. Pipes of ivory, how- 
ever, were commonly employed at rich and sumptuous sacrifices 



310 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

{Voss, ad loc. — Compare Property iv., 6, 8.) — Fumanlia reddimus ex- 
ta. " We offer up the smoking entrails." Reddere exta is the tech- 
nical expression in sacrifices for offering up the entrails. At some 
sacrifices they were offered up roasted, at others either roasted or 
raw. The mode of offering was to put them upon dishes {lances), 
or paterae, and place these on the altars. With regard to the exta 
themselves, consult note on Georg., i., v. 484. — Pandis. " Bending." 
Not from any weight, but merely of bent or curved form ; what 
Martial calls "cava" (xi., 32, 19. Compare verse 445.) 

195-202. Tueri. " To rear."— Urentes cvlta. " That wither the 
young plants with their bite." The ancient agricultural writers say 
that the saliva of animals of the goat kind is venomous to trees, 
especially to the olive. {Varro, R. R., i., 2, 18. — Compare Plin., 
H. N., xv., 8, 8, and viii., 50, 76.) Varro states, moreover, that 
the ancient Romans, when they let a farm, were accustomed to 
make an express stipulation that the tenant should not breed kids, 
because they destroyed the trees and bushes by browsing upon 
them. (Compare with this the remarks of Evelyn, as quoted by 
Martyn : " Goats, or any other cattle, leave a drivel where they bite, 
which not only infects the branches, but sometimes endangers the 
whole.") As regards the peculiar force of urentes here, consult note 
on Georg., i., 77. 

Saturi Tarenti. " Of the richly-stored Tarenlum." Tarentum, 
in Magna Graecia, in the northeastern angle of the Sinus Tarenti- 
nus, was famed for its opulence. The adjacent region was cele- 
brated for its wool. — Et qualem infelix, &c. Consult note on Eclog., 
i., 45. — Herboso flumine. "On its grassy river." The River Minci- 
us is meant. (Compare Eclog., vii., 12 ) — Non liquidi gregibus, &c. 
" Here, nor clear springs, nor grassy pastures, will be wanting to 
the flocks," i. e., in the regions just described, and in those others 
that resemble them in their peculiar features. — Et, quantum longis, 
&c. What the poet here says of the prodigious growth of the 
grass, in a single night's time, seems incredible, and yet we are 
informed by Varro {R. R., i., 7, 10), that Caesar Vopiscus affirmed 
that, at Rosea, near the Lake Velinus, a vine-pole, being stuck in 
the ground, would be lost in the grass the next day. The same 
thing is stated by Pliny, H. N., xvii., 4. {Martyn, ad loc.) — Exigud 
node. "In the scanty compass of a single night." 

203-209. Nigra fere, &c. Columella blames the ancient writers 
on husbandry for insisting upon a black or gray colour as a sign 
of rich land. Evelyn, however, as quoted by Martyn, seems to 
recommend a black earth, and such as is here mentioned by the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK U. 311 

poet. — Et presso pinguis, &c. "And rich beneath the deeply- 
pressed share," i. e., a rich, fat soil, into which the plough-share 
sinks deeply. — Putre. "Friable." — Namque hoc imitamur arando. 
To make the soil friable is the object sought to be effected by 
ploughing. A soil, therefore, which is friable, is by its very nature 
so much the more fit for the purpose intended, since it supersedes 
the necessity of employing the plough. (Compare Wakefield, ad Lu- 
cret., i., 837.) — Non ullo ex aquore. " From no surface." (Compare 
Georg., i., 50.) — Tardis. Moving slowly, not only from their very 
nature, but also from the pressure of the heavy load. 

Aut, unde iratvs, &c. " Or (that soil) from which the angry hus- 
bandman has cleared away a wood," &c., i. e., that soil, also, is good 
for corn which has just been cleared. — Iratus. Expressive of the 
irritation of the farmer, because trees have so long occupied land 
that might have been under the plough. (Valpy, ad loc.)—Ignava. 
"Which have stood idly." — Eruitque. "And has laid low." — AU 
turn. "The deep air on high." — At rudis e?iituit, &c. "But the 
hitherto unploughed field has (meanwhile) brightened on the view, 
with the share driven deeply into its bosom." Observe here the 
force of at, and the beautiful employment of the perfect in this and 
the previous clause. The birds, 'tis true, have left their nests, and 
sought a shelter elsewhere, but then, hard though their lot may be, 
the field itself has been a gainer, and has already, even before, per- 
haps, their flight has been finally stopped, improved under the ap- 
plication of the share. — Enituit. The verb enitere, like the simple 
nitere, is employed to express the improvement which land receives 
from cultivation. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

212-213. Nam jejuna quidem, &c. " For the hungry gravel of the 
hilly field," &c. Virgil here condemns a sandy or gritty soil, but 
different from that mentioned at verse 180. The epithet clivosi, too, 
has its force, since a field of this kind would not be able to retain 
the rain water. — Casias. This is the same plant mentioned in Ec- 
logue ii., 59, and of which bees are fond. — Roremque. "And rose- 
mary." Another plant of which bees are fond, and which grows 
best in a gravelly, poor soil. Dryden takes rorem here to mean 
" dew," which the bees suck from the flowers, and this opinion is 
adopted also by Heyne, Schirach (p. 571), Manso, and others, prin- 
cipally on the ground that no other passage occurs where ros, with- 
out the addition of marinus, stands for rosemary. In this they are 
wrong. Such a passage does actually occur in Pliny (H. N., xxiv., 
11), " Hac que ex rore supra dido nascitur ;" and, even if it had not, 
the reference to a plant in " casias" is sufficient every way to show 
a similar reference in rorem, .\ 



312 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

214-216. Et tophus scaler, &c. "And (again) the rough tufa 
and the whitish clay, hollowed out by the black chelydri, declare 
that no other soil, in an equal degree with this, yields pleasing food 
for serpents, and affords them crooked lurking-places." Observe 
the personification in negant. The soil itself is made to speak, in- 
stead of the agricultural writers that describe such soils. The 
meaning of the passage itself is this ; that such land as is here de- 
scrihed is a favourite abode of serpents, and of little value for agri- 
culture, just like the kind previously mentioned at verse 212. — 
Tophus. Not rotten-stone, as Martyn thinks, but tufa, or the loose 
and porous surface-deposite from calcareous springs. — Chelydris. 
By the chelydrus is strictly meant a kind of amphibious snake, 
armed with a skin like the shell of a tortoise. It is more than 
probable, however, that Virgil meant to use it here as a general 
term for any snake. — Creta. Consult note on Georg., i., v. 179. — 
Cibum. The ancients believed that serpents fed on earth and clay, 
and this will serve to explain the term exesa in verse 214. In the 
Geoponica, vii., 12, serpents and other reptiles are said to live on 
clay during the winter ; and Silius Italicus (xvii., 449) speaks of 
an African snake, " ferventi pastus arena." 

217-223. Qua, tenuem exhalat nebulam, &c. With qua supply 
terra. These verses, observes Holdsworth, contain a very exact 
description of the nature of the Campania Felix, which has gener- 
ally a thin mist hanging over it some part of the day, that pre- 
serves it from becoming dry, though continually cultivated. — Fu- 
mosque volucres. "And flying vapours." — Quaque suo viridi, &c. 
Referring to land that runs quickly and naturally to grass. (Valpy, 
ad loc.) — Scabie et salsd rubigine. "With scurf and salt rust." — 
Oleo. For ad oleum. — Experiere. "You will find." — Facilem. 
" Well adapted." — Patientem vomeris unci. Meaning a soil easy to 
be ploughed. 

224-225. Capua. A rich and flourishing city of Campania, and 
at one time the capital of the country. — Vicina Vesevo, &c. " The 
regions adjacent to Mount Vesevus." This is the same with Vesu- 
vius, in Campania, about six miles southeast of Neapolis, or Naples. 
It appears to have been known also by the names of Vesvius and 
Vesbius. In Virgil's days it was remarkable for the fertility of the 
country at its base, but was not in a state of volcanic activity, al- 
though it possessed numerous indications of having once been so. 
The poet, therefore, alludes merely to the fertility of the surround- 
ing country. The first great eruption on record took place on the 
24th of August, A.D. 79, when Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae 
were buried under showers of volcanic sand, stones, and scoria?. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 313 

Ora. Aulus Gellius informs us that he had met with an account 
that Virgil originally wrote Nolo, here, but that being afterward not 
allowed by the people of that city to bring down some water to his 
farm in the neighbourhood, he altered Nola to ora. Gellius himself 
seems to give no great credit to this story. (Noct. Att., vii., 20.) 
" It is not probable," observes Holdsworth, "that Virgil ever thought 
of Nola in this place. The coast from Naples is very fruitful, and 
as Virgil is supposed have written this at or near Naples, and had 
this coast every day in his view, is it likely that he should pay this 
compliment to a distant town, and forget his favourite country'? I 
doubt whether the land about Nola merits the praises here given ; 
but if it does, it is comprehended under Clanius, near the banks of 
which it stands." 

Et vacuis Clanius, &c. " And the Clanius, unjust to depopulated 
Acerra?." Clanius was a river of Campania, rising in the Apen- 
nines near Nola, and flowing at no great distance from Acerrae, 
which town at no period had many inhabitants, from the frequent 
and destructive inundations of this river. 

226-232. Quamque. " Each kind of soil." Supply terram. — Rara 
sit, an supra, &c. " If you seek to ascertain whether it be loose or 
unusually hard." According to Julius Graecinus, as quoted by Col- 
umella, densa signifies such a soil as admits the rain with difficulty, 
is easily cracked and apt to gape, and so let in the sun to the roots 
of the vines, and, in a manner, to strangle the young plants. This, 
therefore, must be a hard or stiff soil. Rara, on the other hand, 
lets the showers quite through, and is apt to be dried up by the 
sun. This, therefore, must be a loose soil. {Martyn, ad loc.) — 
Ante. " First." — In solido. " Where the ground is solid." Supply 
loco. — Demitti. "To be sunk." — Et pcdibus summas, &c. "And 
will level with your feet the topmost portion of the soil." Observe 
that arena is often taken poetically for soil of any kind. (Compare 
Georg., I, 105.) 

233-237. Si deerunt, rarum, &c. " If soil shall be wanting (to 
fill the pit), the ground will be loose." With deerunt supply arena, 
and observe the employment of uber in the simple sense of humus, 
or solum. — In sua ire loca. " To go back to its former place," i. e., 
to fill the space previously occupied by it. — Superabit. " Shall re- 
main over," with the additional idea of rising above the surface or 
level of the adjacent ground. — Glebas cunctantes, &c. "Expect 
sluggish clods and stiff ridges," *. e., a hard soil, difficult to pulver- 
ize, and, when ploughed, rising in stiff ridges. (Valpy, ad loc.) — 
Terram proscinde. " Give the land its first ploughing." The first 
Dd 



314 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

ploughing in the case of such land must be a deep one, " validis ju- 
vencis." The term proscindere was a technical one with the Roman 
farmers, and meant to plough ground for the first time. Thus Varro 
remarks, " terrain cumprimum arant, proscindere appellant.'''' (R. R. t 
i., 29, 2.) 

238-240. Salsa autem tellus, &c. " Salt" and " bitter" were two 
epithets applied by the ancient farmers to two different kinds of 
earth. (Pallad., ii., 13.) Diophanes, in the Geoponica (v. 7), em- 
ploys, in like manner, the terms niKpd and d/./j.vpd. The taste of the 
earth was supposed to be communicated to the wine made from the 
grapes produced by it. (Geopon., 1. c.) — Perhbetur. " Is commonly 
called." — Frugibus. "For grain," especially corn. — Mansuescit. 
"Is meliorated;" literally, "grows mild." — Nee Baccho genus, &c. 
" Nor preserves the fame of its lineage unto the juice of the grape, 
nor their former reputation unto fruits," i. e., in a soil thus abound- 
ing with salt both vines and fruit-trees degenerate. — Specimen. 
"An indication of its nature." 

241-247. Spisso vimine qualos. " Baskets of thickly- woven osiers." 
— Cdaque prczlorum. "And the strainers of the wine-presses." 
These were also a kind of closely-woven baskets, made, as Colu- 
mella informs us, of Spanish broom, and through which the must 
was percolated. (Colum., xii., 19.) After having been used, they 
were hung up in the smoke to preserve them from the effects of 
moisture. — Hue. "Into these." — Ad plenum. "Brim full." — Eluc- 
tabitur. "Will struggle out."— Sapor. Referring to the taste of 
the expressed water. — Manifestus. We have given here the punc- 
tuation adopted by Reiske, Wakefield, Jahn, and Wagner, by which 
manifestus is connected in construction with amaror. The common 
text places a comma after manifestus, and thus joins it to sapor. — 
Ora tristia tentantum, &c. " Will, by the sensation it produces, dis- 
tort into wry faces the countenances of those who taste it ;" liter- 
ally, "will twist the wry faces," &c. In expressing an action, epi- 
thets are often applied to objects which belong to them properly 
only while that action lasts. 

249-258. Haud unquam, &c. " It never crumbles when thrown 
about from one hand into the other." Compare the version of 
Voss: "AuseinerHandeindieandere." — Lentescit. "Adheres." — 
Habendo. " While held." Equivalent to dum manibus habelur. — Ma jo- 
res. " Of a larger size than ordinary." — Justo latior. " Prolific be- 
yond due measure." — Ah! nimium ne sit mihi, &c. "Ah! let not 
that too fertile soil belong to me." — Primis aristis. "At the first 
springing of the grain;" literally, "in the first ears.'"— Tacitam. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 315 

14 Though silent," i. e., silently — Sceleratum. "Hurtful." Equiva- 
lent here to noxium. 

Picece. " The spruce firs." The picea is our common fir, or 
pitch-tree, observes Martyn. — Taxique noccntcs. " And the noxious 
yews." The leaves of the yews are extremely poisonous both to 
men and cattle. — Hedera nigra.. The common ivy is meant.. The 
epithet nigra has reference merely to the colour of the berries, 
which are black, and perhaps, also, to its dark-green foliage. {Fee, 
Flore de Virgile, p. 63.) — Pandunt vestigia. " Disclose indications 
of it," i. e., afford proof of this chilly nature of the soil by being 
found growing in it. 

259-261. His animadversis, &c. Having explained the several 
sorts of soil, he proceeds to give some instructions concerning the 
planting of vines ; and speaks of the trenches which are to be made 
to receive the plants out of the nursery ; of taking care that the 
nursery and vineyard should have a like soil ; and that the plants 
should be set with the same aspect which they had in the nursery. 
—Multo ante. He means long before the spring, the time for plant- 
ing vines. — Excoquere. "To prepare," i. e., by exposure not only 
to the heat of the sun, but also to the cold and frosts. (Compare 
Columella, xi., 3, 13 : " Sicut calor aestatis, ita vis frigoris excoquit. 
terram.") — Magnos scrobibus, &c. " And to cut the large hills all 
over with trenches." Observe the force of the preposition in com- 
position. Martyn conjectures magnis, of which Heyne approves, 
though he does not admit it into the text. But the true reading is 
magnos. The poet directs that the trenches be cut over the whole 
face of the hills, no matter how large these latter may be, and that 
no labour be spared. — Aquiloni ostendere. "To expose to the nor- 
thern wind," i. e., in order that they may become pervious to it, and 
be dried out and rendered friable. (Compare verse 262, Optima pu- 
tri, &c., and verse 263, id venti curant, &c.) 

262-268. Optima putri, &c. " Those fields are best (for the vine) 
with a crumbling soil." — Id. The rendering the soil, namely, crum- 
bling and friable. — Labefacta jugera. " The loosened acres," i. e., 
•the soil loosened by his spade. — Robustus. Observe the peculiar 
idea implied by this epithet, namely, that of deep digging. (Com- 
pare Georg., i., 65.) — Ante locum similem, &c. " Choose out the 
same sort of soil (as that of the parent vineyard), in which a young 
growth may first be prepared for the vines, and unto which they 
may afterward be removed for the purpose of being set out." - The 
words locum similem refer, it must be borne in mind, to two separ- 
ate spots ; the first of these is the nursery where the cuttings of 



316 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

the vines are first planted (ubi prima parctur arboribus seges) ; and 
the second is the new vineyard into which the young vines are to 
be removed from the nursery, and where they are to continue. 
This latter place is alluded to in the words et quo mox digesta feratur. 

Arboribus. Used here in a general sense for vilibus. — Digesta. 
feratur. These words have occasioned some trouble. Voss, mis- 
taking the meaning of the poet, reads seratur. Jahn, following 
Weichert, explains them correctly by " transferatur ut digeratur, ut 
digesta sit.^ — Mutatam ignorent, &c. " Lest the young plants be 
ignorant of their (new) mother (thus) suddenly changed," i. e., lest 
they do not take kindly to her ; or, in other words, in order that 
the young plants may not, at first, distinguish the change of soil. 
Matrem is here used to express the earth of the two spots indicated 
by locum, similem. 

269-272. Cadi regionem. " The quarter of the sky." The aspect 
of the young plants, as to the north, east, &c, should also be re- 
garded, that the same may be preserved when transplanted to the 
nursery or the vineyard. — Quceque. " Each slip." — Axi. " To the 
north pole." — Adeo in teneris, &c. " Of so much force is habit in 
tender years." Supply annis. — This notion of the necessity to re- 
plant trees in exactly the same position, according to the points of 
the compass in which they had stood, appears to be of great anti- 
quity. Theophrastus says, the position of trees must be regarded, 
as to north, east, or south (ii., 7). Columella also advises that all 
trees should be marked before they are taken out of the nursery, 
and adds, that it is of great consequence to preserve the same as- 
pect to which they have been accustomed (v., 6). Pliny, on the 
other hand, thinks this care not to be requisite, because the men- 
tion of it has been omitted by Cato, and adds, that some affect the 
very contrary position in vines and figs, thinking that by this means 
the leaves grow thicker, to defend the fruit, and that it will not be 
so ready to drop off. (H. N., xvii., 11.) Miller avows that he could 
not discover the least difference in the growth of trees so placed 
and others reversed. The most adventurous, as well as the most 
successful and intelligent of modern planters, Sir H. Stewart, de- 
clares that, after long experience, he not only coincides in opinion 
with Miller, but, in certain cases, recommends loosening the roots, 
and wheeling round trees in the spots where they stand. (Planter's 
Guide, 2d ed., 138, note 7, Edinb., 1828, quoted by Valpy, ad loc.) 

273-275. Collibus, an piano, &c. Here the poet shows the differ- 
ent way of planting a plain or a hill. In a plain the vines are to 
be planted close, but on a hill they are to be kept at greater dis- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 317 

tances. — Melius sit. The question to be considered is not whether, 
as a general rule, the vine will flourish better on hills or on the 
plain, but it is to be taken under one or the other of two aspects : 
first, whether, considering the nature of your land, the intended 
vineyard is likely to answer better on the acclivities or on the 
plain ; and, secondly, whether, according to the nature of the vine 
which you mean to plant, hilly or level land best suits it. (Valpy, 
ad loc.) — Si pinguis agros, &c. " If you shall lay out the fields of a 
rich plain," i. e., for a vineyard. — In denso non segnior, &c. "The 
vine is not the less productive in a closely-planted soil." Denso 
ubere is equivalent merely to denso solo. 

276-278. Sin. Supply mctabere. — Tumulis acclive. " Gently as- 
cending with rising grounds," i. e., rising in hillocks. — Supinos. 
"Sloping." — Indulge ordinibus. "Make the rows wider." (Com- 
pare the explanation of Servius : " Ordines effi.ce largiores.") — Nee 
secius omnis, &c. " Nor less (in either case), your vines being set 
out, let the path between each row be exactly even, a line being 
cut in the ground for that purpose," i. e., whether you plant wide 
or thick, observe always to plant at equal distances, for the reasons 
given afterward. The usual mode of arranging vines, young trees, 
&c, was the quincunx, the form of which is here given : 
# # # # 

# # # 



# * # # 

The testimony of Pliny is express on this subject : " In disponcn- 
dis arboribus, arbustisque ac vineis, quincuncialis ordinum ratio vulgata 
et necessaria, non perflatu modo utilis, verum et adspectu grata, quoque 
modo intueare, in ordinem se porrigente versu." (H. iV.,xvii., 11, 15.) 
The reference, also, to the arrangement of the Roman cohorts in 
battle, made by the poet immediately after, clearly points to the 
quincunx order. It is singular, therefore, that some commentators 
suppose Virgil to be here referring to a square, and, what is more, 
to be actually describing such an arrangement of trees. The poet, 
on the contrary, taking it for granted that the quincunx order in 
the case of vines, &c, was well known, merely calls the attention 
of the reader to the importance of equal spaces or distances between 
them ; and in this lies the point of comparison with the Roman 
cohorts. 

In unguem. A metaphor borrowed from the custom of statuaries 
and other workers in marble, who draw the edge of the nail over 
Dd2 



318 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOJC II. 

the surface of their work, in order to detect any flaw in the join- 
ing. It thus comes to signify " accurately," " exactly," &c. 

279-287. Cohortes explicuit. " Has deployed its cohorts," i. e., 
has extended or drawn them out in battle array. A Roman legion 
contained ten cohorts, which were usually drawn up in a quincunx 
order. — Stetit. " Has taken its station." — Directceque acies. "And 
the lines have been marshalled." — Dubius errat. While it is as yet 
uncertain from what point and when the battle will begin. — Omnia 
sint paribus, &c. " In this same way let all parts of your vineyard 
be measured off into avenues of equal size." With omnia supply 
loca. — Animum pascat inanem. "May idly gratify the mind." — In 
vacuum. " Into free and open space." 

288-297. Forsitan et, scrobibus, &c. The subject of this para- 
graph is the depth of the trenches. The poet says the vine may 
even be planted in a shallow trench ; but great trees require a con- 
siderable depth, and of these he cites the sesculus as an example, 
and takes the opportunity of giving a noble description of that tree. 
— Fastigia. " Their depths." The term properly refers to the 
elevation of their sides from the bottom. Compare the analogous 
usage of altus. — Ausim. " For my own part, I would venture."' 
The Roman husbandmen seem not to have been well agreed about 
the depth of their trenches for planting vines. Virgil seems to 
approve of a shallow trench, but he speaks of it with caution. He 
does not lay it down as an absolute rule, in which all were agreed, 
but only says that he himself would venture to do so ; in which he 
seems to hint that the common practice of his time was different. 
— Altior ac penitus, &c. " A tree, (on the other hand), fixes itself 
deeper and far into the earth." Defigitur is here equivalent to de- 
Jigit se. 

JEsculus. Consult note on verse 16. — Qua, quantum vertice, &c. 
Repeated of the oak, at Mn., iv., 445, seq. Mr. T. A. Knight ob- 
serves, remarks Valpy, that the oak in few soils roots more than 
four or five feet. — Multosque nepotes, &c. "And outlasts many 
descents of men, railing onward, as it continues to exist, many a 
generation," i. e., surviving while many generations roll by. Ob- 
serve the poetic construction in volvens sacula, for dum scecula vol- 
vuntur. — Media ipsa. " Itself in the midst." 

298-300. Neve tibi ad solem, &c. In this passage are several 
short precepts relating to vineyards, with a beautiful account of the 
danger of intermixing wild olives with the vines, lest a fire should 
kindle among them and destroy the vineyards. ?*- Vergant vineta. 
Columella, speaking of the aspect of a vineyard, tells us that the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 319 

ancients were greatly divided about it. He recommends a southern 
aspect in cold places, and an eastern aspect in warm places, if they 
be not subject to be infested with the east and south winds, as on 
the seacoast of Baetica ; in which case, he says, they are better 
opposed to the north or west. (Colum., hi., 12, 5.) — Corulum. The 
hazel has a large, spreading root, which, together with its shade, 
would injure the vines. This seems to be the reason of roasting 
the entrails of the goat on hazel spits. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

Neve flagella summa pete, &c. " Neither seek after the extremi- 
ties of the shoots, nor gather your cuttings from the highest part of 
the vine." Two precepts are here given, to the following effect : 
1st. You must not make use of the upper part of the shoot of the 
vine ; and, 2d. You must not take the shoots themselves from the 
top. Columella says that the best cuttings are those which are 
taken from the body ; the next, from the branches ; and the third, 
from the top of the vine, which soonest take, and are most fruitful, 
but soonest grow old. Miller observes, you should always make 
choice of such shoots as are strong and well ripened, of the last 
year's growth ; and you should always cut off the upper part of the 
shoot itself, so as to leave the cutting about sixteen inches long. 
The upper part of the shoot, according to this same authority, is 
never so well ripened as the lower part, which was produced early 
in the spring, so that, if it does take root, it never makes so good 
a plant as otherwise, for its wood, being spongy and soft, admits 
the moisture too freely, whereby the plant will be luxuriant in 
growth, but (differing in this from Columella) never so fruitful as 
those whose wood is closer and more compact. 

301-302. Tantus amor terra ! The meaning is, that those shoots 
which grow towards the middle, and are, therefore, nearer the earth, 
contract such a liking to it, that they take better in it. — Semina. 
" The shoots," whence other vines are to spring. A blunt knife 
not only increases the labour of the husbandman, but also tears the 
vines, and makes wounds that are not apt to heal. — Neve olece sil- 
vestres insere, &c. " Nor plant among your vines stems of the wild 
olive," i. e., as supports for the vines. We have followed here the 
explanation of Voss, Heyne, and others. Wagner, on the contrary, 
maintains that the poet refers to the grafting of domesticated olives 
on wild ones, and, in accordance with this view, reads olea silves- 
tris insere truncos. Nothing, however, appears more erroneous than 
this. The poet refers throughout to vines and vineyards. 

305-314. Robora. " The solid wood." — Totum nemus. " The 
whole vineyard." The vineyard is called in poetic language nemus, 



320 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

because resembling a grove in the numerous trees that cover it, 
and along which the vines are twining. — Ruit. " Sends rapidly 
upward." — A vertice. " From on high." Voss very strangely ren- 
ders this, " from tbe summit of the hill which the vineyard has to 
the north." — Silvis. Equivalent here to arboribus, and referring to 
the trees in the vineyard. — Hoc ubi. Supply accid.it. — Non a stirpe 
valent, &c. They are without strength in the lower part of the 
stem, nor can they, even when cut, recover, and spring up again 
from the bosom of the earth, like unto their former selves." The 
stem of the vine, burned off near the ground, has no strength re- 
maining, nor, when the stem is cut away, can new sprouts come 
forth from the roots. The wild olive, on the other hand, the cause 
of all the mischief, survives the disaster, and again puts forth its 
bitter leaves. — Infelix. "Unproductive." — Superat. "Survives 
(the disaster)." 

,315-320. Tarn prudens persuadeat auctor. " Appear so sagacious 
an adviser as to persuade thee." — Rigidam. "Stiffened." — Clau- 
dit. "Binds up." — Semine jacto. " If the young cuttings be then 
planted out." — Concretam patitur radicem, &c. "Suffers the fro- 
zen root to attach itself closely to the ground." With affigere sup- 
ply se. — Candida venil avis, &c. A poetic circumlocution for the 
stork, a bird of passage, which comes into Italy in the spring, or, 
according to Pliny, in the summer, meaning, probably, the com- 
mencement of that season. — Invisa colubris. Pliny says that storks 
were held in such esteem in Thessaly, on account of their destroy- 
ing serpents, that it was a capital crime to kill one of these birds, 
and the punishment was the same as for murder. 

323-335. Adeo. "Too," or "still farther." Equivalent here to 
etiam, though with somewhat more of force. {Wagner, Quczst. 
Virg., xxvi., 6.) — Genitalia. " Genial." — Turn pater omnipotens, &c. 
" Then iEther, omnipotent father, descends in fertilizing showers," 
&c. iEther, or the upper air, was poetically typified by Jupiter ; 
the earth, by Juno ; the fecundation of the earth by rain is" there- 
fore represented as a marriage. — Et omnes magnus alit, &c. "And 
vast in himself, commingled with her vast frame, nourishes all her 
offspring." 

Avia virgulta. "The retired thickets." — Parturit almus ager. 
" The benignant earth teems with being." — Superat. " Abounds." 
— Germina. This reading (supported by MSS. authority) is far 
preferable to gramina, the common lection. The context relates 
to the fruits of trees, &c, not to grain. — Trudit gemmas. " Puts 
forth its buds." 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 321 

336-339. Crescentis. Bentley (ad Manila ii., 428) conjectures 
nascentis, which is certainly more poetical. — Aliumve habuissc tcno- 
rem. The poet means that at the creation, and for a long time af- 
terward, there was a continuation of spring, in order that the dif- 
ferent races might have time to grow hardy before a more inclem- 
ent season should begin. — Crediderim. " For my part, I believe." 
Observe the force of the subjunctive in modifying an assertion. — 
Ver agebat. "Enjoyed continuous spring." Observe the employ- 
ment of the imperfect to denote continuous action ; and as regards 
the phrase itself, compare the well-known expression, diem festum 
agere. — Quum primal pecudes, &c. " What time the first-created 
herds drank in the light of day." Voss, with less correctness, 
makes prima equivalent here, in poetic idiom, to primum, "first." — 
Terrea progenies. " The earth-born race." The common text has 
ferrea, but this neither harmonizes with the context, nor with the 
ancient legends respecting the earliest race of men. The iron age 
came long after. Besides, Lactantius (Inst., ii., 10) and Philargyr- 
ius read terrea; and the latter remarks, in explanation of it, " Quia 
creditum est primo homines e terra natos, a qua humo homines existi- 
mahant dictos." This same reading meets with the approbation of 
Bentley (ad Horat., Epod., ii., 18), and has been admitted into the 
text by Voss, Jahn, and Wagner. — Duris. "Rugged," i. e., not as 
yet softened down by culture. — Sidera. The stars were regarded 
by the earlier Greeks as animated and divine in their natures. 
They were supposed to have been created after the earth, and to 
be nourished by exhalations from the earth, the sea, and the world- 
encircling Oceanus. (Voss, ad loc.) 

343-345. Nee res hunc tenerce, &c. " Nor could the (as yet) ten- 
der productions of earth endure this toil," i. e., the toil and risk of 
growing up to maturity. These lines do not belong to the clause 
immediately preceding, namely, from verse 336 to 342 inclusive, 
but to the passage before this. They have no reference, therefore, 
to the infancy of the world, and the newly-created plants, as some 
suppose, but contain merely a general allusion to spring, and its 
grateful intervention, as a period of comparative repose, between 
the storms of winter and the scorching heats of summer. The 
meaning, therefore, is simply this, that the young plants could not 
grow up and become gradually hardy, did not spring intervene, as 
a season of quiet repose between winter and summer. There is no 
need, therefore, of our regarding possent, iret, and exciperet, as put 
respectively for potuissent, ivisset, and excepisset. 

Si non tanta quies, &c. " Did not so long a period of repose in> 



322 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK II. 

tervene, and the indulgence of the sky foster (during its continu- 
ance) the earth," i. e., and a mild and indulgent sky, as is that of 
spring. — Exciperet. The idea of fostering is borrowed here from 
the taking up and fostering of a new-born infant. 

346-348. Quod superest. "As to what remains," i. e., to pursue 
the subject to its close. A form of expression borrowed from Lu- 
cretius (iii., 351 ; v., 770). — Quacumque premes, &c. "Whatever 
cuttings you shall put down throughout your grounds." Martyn 
makes the poet refer here merely to layers ; but premcre may be 
used of planting in general, and it is to be so understood here. 
(Compare Columella, iii., 15, 4; and Georg., iv., 131.) — Sparge Jimo 
pingui, &c. Columella informs us, that these directions about bury- 
ing stones and shells are taken from Mago the Carthaginian, who 
also advises dunging, but adds that grape-stones ought to be mixed 
with the dung. (Colum., iii., 15, 4.) — Lapidem bibulum. " Bibulous 
stones," i. e., pumice or sandstone. — Squalentes conchas. "Rough 
shells," i. e., such as would not lie closely together, but would allow 
of small openings between them, through which the air and water 
may come to the roots. Evelyn says, however, that such things 
as these ought to be removed after a competent time, else the ver- 
min, snails, and insects, which they produce and shelter, will gnawr 
and greatly injure the bark. 

349-353. Tenuisque subibit halitus. "And a fine vapour will pen- 
etrate them." This remark arises, probably, from the impression 
that a circulation of air is requisite for the root. — Atque animos tol- 
lenl sata. " And the plants will take courage," i. e., will become 
fresh and vigorous. — Jamque reperti, qui. " Some, too, have been 
found before this, who." — Ingentis pondere testae. "And with the 
weight of a great potsherd," i. e., and with a large and heavy pot- 
sherd. — Hoc effusos munimen, &c. " This is a protection against 
heavy showers." Observe that hoc in this line, and hoc in the next, 
both refer to one and the same thing, and are not analogous to the 
Greek tovto /h£v and tovto 6i. The stone and the potsherd both 
serve as a species of defence against heavy rains, and, besides this 
(a circumstance not mentioned by the poet), the potsherd being re- 
tentive of warmth, the young vine will escape any chilling by night. 
— Hoc, ubi hiulca, &c. " This (is a protection) when the heat- 
bringing dog-star cleaves with thirst the gaping fields." 

354-357. Scminibus positis, &c. " After the cuttings are planted, 
it remains to loosen the earth often at the roots, and to ply vigor- 
ously the hard two-pronged drags." The meaning of this passage 
is generally misunderstood. The common text has deducere, which 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 323 

is rendered " to draw up/' or " gather." Such, however, is by no 
means the idea which the poet intends to express, and the true 
reading is undoubtedly diducere, which gives a very good sense. 
The earth must often be loosened and broken up around the bottom 
of the cutting, but then this must be done gently, and without any 
instrument, lest injury be done thereby to the tender stem. No 
verb expresses better than diduco the meaning here alluded to, 
namely, that of breaking up and loosening gently. On the other 
hand, the ground at a distance from the cutting is to be broken up 
by drags, or the plough, where force can do no harm. With regard 
to covering up the lower part of the stem with earth, the meaning 
assigned to deducere terram, &c, this, it may be observed, ought 
never to be done ; nay, even the trenches in which the cuttings 
are placed ought never to be filled with earth to the top, in order 
that the cuttings may send their roots downward. 

Capita. The term caput means the bottom no less than the top 
of anything. (Compare Cato, R. R., 38 : " circum capita addito stcr- 
cus ; circum capita sanito ;" and compare JEn., vi., 360.) — Bidentes. 
By bidcns appears to be meant an instrument with two hooked iron 
teeth, called by farmers a drag. — Luctantcs juvencos. " The oxen 
struggling with their work." This expression, and prcsso sub vo- 
mcrc, in the previous line, are meant to imply deep ploughing in 
vineyards. 

358-361. Rasa hastilia virga. "Spears of peeled rods," i. e., 
poles resembling spear handles, and from which the bark has been 
stripped off- — Fur casque valentes. We have given valentes, with 
Brunck, Voss, Jahn, and Wagner, on the authority of the best MSS. 
The common reading is furcasque bicornes. — Summasque sequi, &c. 
" And follow the stages to the tops of the elms." Tabulata prop- 
erly means stories in a house, but is here applied to the boughs 
projecting laterally, and trimmed into stages, on which the vine 
branches were trained. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

363-366. EL "And also." — Se agit. " Spreads itself." — Laxis 
per purum, &c. " Being sent onward through the open air, with 
slackened reins." A metaphor taken from horse-racing, but cen- 
sured by some as a little harsh when applied to the growth of a 
tree. Lucretius, however, had used the same metaphor before 
our poet (u. 785). — Per purum. Supply a'era. — Ipsa. Supply 
vitis, which may be easily inferred from "prima eetas," &c, in 
verse 362.— Serf uncis carpenda, &c. " But the leaves are to be 
nipped by the thumb and finger ;" literally, " by the bent hands." 
— Interque hgendce. "And are to be culled here and there." This 



324 NOTES ON THE GEOR.GIOS. BOOK II. 

is no instance of tmesis for interlegenda, but inter is used adverbi- 
ally, as Wunderlich correctly remarks (ad vers. 351). 

368-370. Stringe comas. " Cut off the upper twigs." (Voss, ad 
loc.) — Brachia tonde. "Lop off the side branches." — Ante. "Be- 
fore this." — Dura imperia. "A harsh empire." 

371-380. Texendce. sepes etiam, &cc. Here the poet speaks of ma- 
king hedges to keep out cattle, and especially goats, whence the 
he takes occasion to digress into an account of the sacrifices to 
Bacchus, the origin of the drama, &c. — Et pecus omne tenendum. 
'•And all sorts of cattle to be kept out;" literally, "to be re- 
strained." Tenendum, for continendum. — Frons. The leaf taken for 
the vine itself. — Imprudensque laborum. " And unaware of coming 
toils." By laborum are here meant the toils and hardships that are 
to be encountered by the young plant in coming to maturity, among 
which are particularly to be included the injuries it is liable to re- 
ceive from cattle. — Super indignas hiemes. " Besides winters of 
unmerited severity," i. e., merciless or cruel ones. (Compare the 
explanation of Heyne : " quibus digna non est ; quas immerito patitur.'''') 

Silvestres uri. " The wild bulls." Not to be confounded with 
either the bison or the buffalo. (Consult Dictionary of Antiquities, 
Anthonys ed., s. v. Bison, Bubalis.) — Capreceque sequaces. "And the 
persecuting goats." — Illudunt. "Do wanton injury." — Pascuntur. 
For quam pascuntur. " On which browse." — Cand concreta pruind. 
" Stiff with hoary frost." The poet means that neither frost, nor 
extreme heat, striking an arid soil on a rocky bottom, is so injuri- 
ous. By scopulis arentibus we must understand vineyards planted 
on a rocky soil, which, therefore, suffer most in dry weather. 
(Martyn, ad loc.) — Aut gravis incumbens, &c. " Or the burning heat 
beating upon the thirsting rocks." — Durique venenum dentis. Con- 
sult note on verse 196. 

381-384. Et veteres ineunt, &c. " And the ancient plays enter on 
the stage," i. e., and the early drama takes its rise. The sacrifice 
of the goat (rpayoe) to Bacchus was intimately connected with the 
origin of tragedy (rpayudla) and other dramatic performances. 
(Diet. Aniiq., s. v. Tragcedia, &e.) — Proscenia. In the ancient the- 
atres, the whole space from the scena, or rear wall of the stage, to 
the orchestra was termed the proscenium, forming what we should 
call the real stage. —Pramiaque ingeniis, &c. " (From this same 
cause), moreover, the Athenians proposed rewards for genius 
throughout the villages and the cross-roads." The allusion is still 
to the early history of the drama, when a goat was the prize given 
to the successful competitor, and the celebration took place at the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 



325 



rural Dionysia. — Thesida. The Athenians, so called, as the descend- 
ants of Theseus, their ancient king. — Atque inter pocula, &c. The 
allusion is now to the Ascolia (ua/co/Ua), or the leaping upon the 
leathern bag, one of the many kinds of amusements in which the 
Athenians indulged during the festivals in honour of Bacchus. 
They sacrificed a goat to the god, made a wine-bag out of the skin, 
smeared it with oil, and then tried to dance upon it. The various 
accidents accompanying this attempt afforded great amusement to 
the spectators. He who succeeded was victor, and received the 
skin of wine as his reward. — Unctos per vtres. " On the wine-skins 
smeared with oil." 

385-387. Ausonii coloni. The inhabitants of Italy are now meant, 
more particularly the Latins, who had become united into one peo- 
ple with the Trojan followers of iEneas. The poets use the term 
Ausonia as an appellation for all Italy. Strictly speaking, however, 
the name belonged to the southern part of Italy, through which the 
Ausones, one of the ancient races of Italy, had spread themselves. 
Niebuhr makes the Ausones a portion of the great Oscan nation. — 
Versibus incomtis ludunt, &c. The Italian communities, too, re- 
marks the poet, have festivals in honour of Bacchus, accompanied 
with song and drollery. — Oraque corticibus sumunt, &c. " And put 
on hideous masks made of hollow bark." Amid their mummeries 
on these occasions, they wore bark masks, of a hideous expression, 
for the purpose of scaring. 

3S8-392. Tibique oscilla, &c. " And in honour of thee hang up 
the mild oscilla on the tall pine." Oscillum, a diminutive through 
osculum, from os, means, properly, " a little face," and was the term 
applied to faces or heads of Bacchus, which were suspended in the 
vineyards to be turned in every direction by the wind. Whichso- 
ever way they looked, they were supposed to make the vines and 
other things in that quarter fruitful. The left-hand figure in the 
annexed wood-cut is taken from an oscillum of white marble in the 




326 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

British Museum. The back of the head is wanting, and it is con- 
cave within. It represents the countenance of Bacchus with a mild 
and propitious expression (molle, honestum). The metallic ring by 
which the marble was suspended still remains. The other figure 
is from an ancient gem, representing a tree with four oscilla hung 
upon its branches. From this noun came the verb oscillo, meaning 
"to swing." Swinging (oscillatio) was among the bodily exercises 
practised by the Romans. 

Vallcsque cava, saltusque profundi. Not only the vineyards, but 
the valleys and the fields in general, feel the propitious influence 
of the god. — El quocumque. " And every other quarter unto which." 
— Circum caput egit honestum. "Has swung around his propitious 
visage." 

393-396. Dicemus. "Will we ascribe." — Suum konorenu "The 
honour that is his due," i. e., that belongs of right to him for all his 
favours unto man. — Carminibus patriis. " In ancient strains," i. e., 
in strains that have come down to us from our fathers. The wor- 
ship of Bacchus was of early origin in both Greece and Italy. — 
Lancesque et liba. •> " Both dishes (of first fruits) and sacred cakes." 
Not, as Heyne says, dishes containing sacred cakes, but each dis- 
tinct from the other. The dishes contained fruits of all kinds ; the 
cakes were made of meal, milk, eggs, and oil, and, when done, were 
covered over with honey while yet warm. (Voss, ad he.) — Ductus 
comu. The victim was always led with a slack rope to the altar, 
for if it was reluctant to approach, this was deemed a bad omen. — 
Stabit. Another favourable omen was the victim's standing quietly 
at the altar. — Sacer. Because selected for the occasion. — In veri- 
bus colurnis. " On hazel spits." Consult note on verse 299. 

397-402. Est etiam Me labor, &c. He now returns to the vine- 
yards, and shows what labour farther attends the culture of them, 
in frequent digging, dressing, and pruning. — Cui nunquam exhausti, 
&c« " Which can never be sufficiently gone through with." — JEtcr- 
num. "Continually." For in aternum, — Omne levandum, &c. "The 
whole vineyard is to be lightened of its leaves," i. e., the leaves of 
the vines throughout the entire vineyard must be thinned. This is 
done in order to give the sun a greater power in ripening the fruit. 
Observe the employment of nemus for vinea, and consult note on 
verse 308. — Redit actus in onbem. " Returns in circling course."— r 
Sua per vestigia. " Along her former footsteps." 

403-407. Ac jam ohm. " And now at length." — D. ecus sit honorem. 
u Has shaken down their leafy honours." — Tarn turn. " Even then.y 
— Acer rusiicus. " The diligent husbandman." The vine-dresser 



KOTES. ON THE GEORGICS. BOQK IX. 327 

{mnitor) is, in fact, meant. — Et curvo Saturnt dente, &c. " And, re- 
moving the useless roots, pursues with the curved hook of Saturn 
the vine now stripped of fruit and leaves, and forms it by pruning." 
Attondens means cutting off the roots which grow near the surface 
of the ground, or day roots, an operation which the Romans term- 
ed ablaqueatio. — Curvo Saturni dente. Saturn was represented hold- 
ing a pruning-hook, for the form of which, consult note on verse 
421. 

408-411. Primus humum fodito. " Be the first to dig the ground 
(of the vineyard)." The poet here lays down certain precepts 
somewhat in the manner of Hesiod and Cato. The substance of 
his advice is, be the first of your neighbours to enter on the work 
of the vineyard, be the last to gather in the produce. — Devecta cre- 
mato sarmenta. " To bear away and burn the shoots that have been 
cut off." — Vallos. Those of the stakes that are no longer needed 
as props for the vines are to be carried away and put under cover, 
lest the rains rot them. (Varro, R. R., i., 8, 6.) — Postremus melito. 
" Be the last to gather in the produce of your vines." The grapes 
are better the longer time they have to ripen. Meto and its deriva- 
tives are used to denote the gathering in of any kind of produce. 
Virgil applies messis in the fourth Georgic (v. 231) to the taking of 
the honey. 

Bis vitibus ingruit umbra. The vines are twice overloaded with 
leaves, and therefore must be pruned twice a year. One of these 
periods is what is termed the summer dressing, when the young 
shoots are to be nipped with the fingers ; the other is the autumnal 
pruning. — Bis segetem densis, &c. " Twice do weeds overspread 
the ground with thick bushes." Observe here the employment of 
segetem for arvum, i. e., vineam. There are two periods for weeding 
the vineyard, as there are two for pruning. 

412-415. Laudato ingenlia rura, &c. " Praise a large vineyard, 
cultivate a small one." Virgil here imitates the sententious tone 
of Hesiod (Op. et D., 643), where the latter says, vrj 1 b?dyr]v alveiv, 
fieydXr) 6' hi ^oprCa deadai, " Praise a small ship, but place your la- 
ding in a large one," In the present instance, where the rule ap- 
pears reversed, the meaning is, that, in consequence of the care and 
trouble attendant upon the management of a vineyard, it is better 
to cultivate a small than a large one. The term laudato, therefore, 
is to be regarded as a species of euphemism, when we decline a 
thing courteously, or, in other words, praise while we reject it. 
Admire, then, the splendour of a large vineyard, but do not wish 
to be the owner of one, since the possessor cannot extend his care 



328 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS, BOOK ir. 

over a very large spot of ground. (Compare the explanation of 
Heyne : "laudato, valere jube, aliis relinque, habeant Mi sibi." Con- 
sult, also, Columella, i., 3, 8 ; iv., 3, 4.) 

Nee non etiam. The poet now, in order to show what constant 
care the vineyard requires, proceeds to mention other things still 
that must be performed by the cultivator. — Aspera rusci vimina. 
" The rough twigs of butcher's broom." Martyn supposes that this 
plant was used in Virgil's time to bind the vines. — Per silvam. The 
plant in question grows in woods and bushy places. — Fluvialis. 
" That loves the rivers." — Inculti salicti. " Of the uncultivated 
willow," i. e., that springs up without the fostering care of man. 
Observe, again, the use of salictum for salix. The twigs of the wil- 
low would be needed to bind the vines, and serve as materials for 
hedges. 

418-419. Jam vincta vites. He concludes this passage with show- 
ing that the labour of cultivating vineyards is perpetual. He has 
already mentioned a frequent digging of the ground ; the summer 
and autumn pruning ; and the tying of the vines. Now he ob- 
serves, that, when all this is performed, and the labour might seem 
to be ended with the vintage, yet the ground is still to be stirred 
and broken to dust ; and that storms are to be feared, even when 
the grapes are ripe. — Jam falcem arbusta reponunt. "Now the 
(vine-clad) trees no longer require the pruning-hook ;" literally, 
"lay aside the pruning-hook," i. e., cause it to be laid aside, and no 
longer needed. Arbusta may either mean here the trees along 
which the vines are trained, or the vines themselves. 

Jam canit extremes, &c. " Now the worn-out vine-dresser sings 
of farthest rows," i. e., sings of labours ended by his having reached 
the last rows in the vineyard, or expresses in song his joy at 
having reached the last rows. The reading here is extremely 
doubtful. We have adhered to the ordinary text, with considerable 
hesitation, however, on account of the meaning required to be given 
to effaztus. Wagner, on the other hand, reads Jam canit effaetos cx- 
tremus vinitor antes ; but here, again, extremus, in the sense of qui 
ad finem laborum pervenit, is still harsher than effoetus vinitor. — Solli- 
citanda. Equivalent to fodienda. — Movendus. "To be stirred up." 
This operation was termed pulveratio, and was thought to assist in 
ripening the grape. (Plin., H. N., xvii., 9, 5, and 22, 35.) In the 
Geoponica (iii., 10, scq.) it is likewise stated, that the dust of July 
and August ripens the grape, and makes it large of size. — Jupiter. 
The lord of the air, and, therefore, the parent of storms. 

420-421. Contra, non ulla, &c. " On the other hand, there is no 



NOTES ON THE GEOKGICS. BOOK II. 329 

culture (required) for the olives." Having shown the great labour 
which attends the care of the vineyard, he now opposes the olive 
to this, which requires hardly any culture. He says the same of 
the fruit-trees, &c, which are produced abundantly ; and thence 
he infers that, if nature affords us so many useful plants, we ought 
not to be backward in turning our attention unto the culture of 
these. — Procurvam falcon. "The pruning-hook curved in front." 
The lower figure in the annexed wood-cut is taken from the MSS. 
of Columella, and represents the pruning-hook of the vine-dresser. 
The curvature in the fore part of the blade is expressed by Virgil 
in the phrase procurva falx. 




422-425. Aurasque tulerunt. "And have stood the blasts." — Ip- 
sa. "Of itself." Equivalent to sponte sua. — Satis. " Unto the 
young plants." Not the adverb, but the dative plural (sata, -orum), 
and referring to the young olive plants, the verb sero referring as 
well to planting as to sowing. (Compare verses 275, 299.) — Dente 
unco. " By the crooked tooth of the drag." — Et gravidas, cum vo- 
mere, fruges. "And (yields) a heavy crop of olives when (it is 
opened) by the share." With cum supply rechiditur from the pre- 
vious clause. According to Columella (v., 9, 12), the olive grounds 
required ploughing twice a year. — Hoc nutritor. "On this account, 
nurture." Nutritor is said to be an old form for nutri. Thus, Pris- 
cian remarks that the early Romans used bellor for bello, comperior 
for comperio, copulor for copulo, &c., and so, also, nutrior for nutrio 
(viii , 5, 26 ; p. 798, Putsch.). It is more than probable, however, 
E e 2 



330 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

that these are all to be regarded as instances of the existence at 
one time of a middle voice in Latin. Hence nutritor will properly 
signify " nurture for thyself." — Placitam Pari. " Dear to Peace. ,r 
The olive was the emblem of peace, whence its epithet of pad/era. 
(2En., viii., 116.) Observe that Pari is written with a capital letter, 
because a personification. 

426-428. Poma. " Fruit-trees." The reference is to fruit-trees 
in general. Observe, also, that the fruit, pomum, is here put for 
the tree itself, potnus. Columella, in his chapter " de arboribus po- 
■miferis" (v., 10), speaks of figs, pomegranates, apples, pears, mul- 
berries, and several other sorts of fruit. (Martyn, ad loc.) So, 
again, Pomona, as already remarked, was the goddess of fruits in 
general (pomorum), — Ut primum truncos, &c. "As soon as they 
have felt their trunks to be vigorous." There is no reference to 
grafting here, as some suppose. The words of the text are equiv- 
alent merely to "ubi semcl adoleverunt.'''' — Habuere. "Have ac- 
quired." — Raptim nituntur. " Shoot upward." 

429-432. Nee minus interea, &c. Here he speaks of wild trees, 
which grow in the woods. — Foztu. " With its (wild) fruits ;" liter- 
ally, "with produce." — Inculta aviaria. "And the uncultivated 
haunts of birds." Aviarium is here used in a different sense from 
its ordinary one. (Compare Servius : " Aviaria ; secreta nemorum 
qua aves frequentant.")—Cytisi. The cytisus has been already re- 
ferred to. (Consult note on Eclog., i., 79.) Goats are said to be 
very fond of it. Columella also speaks of it as an excellent fodder, 
causing abundance of milk, and as being useful also to hens and 
bees. — Tadas. Torches were made of any combustible wood. 
Pliny mentions a sort of pine or fir, under the name of t<zda, which 
was chiefly made use of at sacrifices. (Compare Eclog., vii., 49.) 

433-436. Severe, atque impendere curam ? " To plant (such as 
these), and to bestow care (upon them also)?' As regards the 
meaning of serere here, consult note on verse 299. — Quid majora 
sequar ? &c. " Why need I go on and treat of greater things 1 the 
willows and the humble broom, these afford," &c. Observe the force 
imparted to the sentence by the insertion of ilia, which thus ren- 
ders salices and genista nominatives absolute. The meaning intend- 
ed to be conveyed by the whole passage is this : Why go on and 
relate the advantages to be derived from the larger kind of trees, 
when even willows and the broom are not without their utility 1 — 
Aut ilia. Servius states that many were accustomed to read et 
iilia, thus bringing in the " lindens" as a third instance. 

437-439. Et juvat undantem, &c. " It is delightful, too, to behold 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK JK. 331 

Cytorus waving with the box." Cytorus was a mountain of Paph- 
lagonia, on the coast, famous for its groves of box, and hence the 
language of Catullus in alluding to it, " Cylore buxifer" (iv., 13.) 
Near it stood a city of the same name, but also called Cytorum. — 
Naryciceque picis lucos. " And the groves of Narycian pitch." Na- 
ryx, or Narycium, was a city of the Locri Opuntii, in Greece, and 
the birthplace of Ajax, the son of Oileus. A colony sent out from 
this place migrated to Italy, and founded the city of Locri, near the 
promontory of Zephyrium, and in the lower extremity of Bruttium. 
In the vicinity of this latter city stood the great forest of Sila, con- 
sisting chiefly of fir-trees, and celebrated for the quantity of pitch 
which it yielded. It is to this woody region that Virgil refers in 
the text, and the pitch-trees, or firs, are called "Narycian," inclu- 
sion to the Narycian origin of the adjacent city of Locri. — Arva. 
" Productive fields." — Obnoxia. " Indebted." 

440-445. Steriles. " Though barren of aught that may nurture." 
Observe here the force of sterilis, meaning merely devoid of edible 
fruit, or, as Heyne expresses it, sine fructu eduli. The steriles silva, 
therefore, are opposed to the arbores frugiferce. — Silva. " Forest- 
trees." — Feruntque. " And bear away," i. e., upon the blast. — Dant 
alios alia fa>tus. " Yield each their different produce." — Cedrumque. 
" And the Juniper." The tree here meant is not what we know by 
-the name of cedar, but a species of juniper x the Juniperus oxycedrus 
of Parkinson. (Consult Martyn, ad loc.) 

Hinc radios Irivere rotis, &c. " From trees such as these the 
husbandmen have rounded spokes for wheels, from these (they have 
formed) solid wheels for wagons, and have laid the bending keels 
for ships." Observe that hinc contains a reference to forest-trees 
generally, the lighter kind being used for one purpose, the heavier 
for another. There is no immediate connexion, therefore, between 
• citprcssQsque and Hinc radios Irivere, &c, since Servius expressly 
States that spokes were not made out of cypress wood. Tympana. 
By tympanum is meant a solid wheel, without spokes, as appears in 
the following wood-cut, taken from a bas-relief at Rome. 




332 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IL 

Trivere. Observe the peculiar force of this tense, which brings 
it here into close connexion with an aoristic meaning, " have round- 
ed off, (and are still accustomed to do so)." The same remark will 
apply to posuere. 

\! 446-450. Viminibus salices, &c. The twigs of the willow, as be- 
fore remarked, were used to bind the vines, form hedges, or enclo- 
sures, and make all sorts of wicker-work. — Frondibus uhni. The 
cattle were fed in part on the leaves of the elm. {Colum., v., 6, 3.) 
- — At myrius validis hastilibus, &c. The myrtle and the cornel were 
both used for the shafts of spears, darts, &c. — Ituraos. The Ituraei 
were an Arab race in Coelesyria, beyond the Jordan, famed for their 
skill with the bow, to which Cicero also alludes. (Phil, ii., 44.) 
Hence " Iturean" becomes merely an ornamental epithet here. — 
Torno rasile buxum. " The box-wood easily polished by means of 
the turning lathe." Box-wood is well known to be turned into a 
variety of utensils. 

451-457. Alnus. The wood of the alder, which is lighter than 
that of many other kinds of trees, was the first, according to the 
poets, that was employed for the purposes of navigation. (Consult 
Georg., i., 136.) — Missa Pado. " Sent onward by the Po," i. e., by 
the rapid current of that stream. (Voss, ad loc.) Heyne and oth- 
ers, less correctly, make the meaning to be " launched on the Po." 
The alder abounded on the banks of this stream. — Cortiabusque 
cavis. The allusion is to hives made of bark. (Compare Georg., 
iv., 33.) — Vitiosaque ilicis alveo. " And in the body of the decayed 
holm oak." The reference is now to a natural hive. (Compare 
Georg., iv., 44.) 

Quid memorandum ceque, &c. " What have the gifts of Bacchus 
produced equally deserving of mention]" i. e., what are the advan- 
tages connected with the vine that deserve equal mention with 
these 1 — Et ad culpam caussas dedit. " Has even given occasions for 
crime," i. e., supplied the promptings unto lawlessness and crime. 
The poet now proceeds to give a memorable instance of this, in the 
quarrel between the Centaurs and Lapithae, brought about by intox- 
ication, at the nuptials of Pirithous and Hippodamia. — Furcntcs. 
"Raging under his influence," i. e., maddened by intoxication. — 
Rhoztumque, Pholumque, &c. Names of Centaurs who fell in the 
conflict. — Cratere. As regards the ancient mixers, consult note on 
JEn., i., 724. 

458-460. fortunatos nimium, &c. "Ah, the too happy husband- 
men, if they only know the blessings that are theirs !'' The poet, 
having just mentioned a scene of bloodshed and confusion, changes 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS.— BOOK It. 333 

the subject suddenly to a beautiful description of the innocent and 
peaceful pleasures of a country life. — Fundit humo. " Pours forth 
from her bosom ;" literally, "from the ground." Observe that hu- 
mus is here connected With tellus, just as we have solum terra in 
Lucretius, v., 1188. — Facilem victum. "The easy sustenance of 
life." — Justissima tellus. "The most just earth." The earth is 
here called " most just," because making a most fair and liberal re- 
turn for the labours bestowed upon her by the husbandman. 

461-465. Si non. Opposed to at in verse 467. — Mane salutantum, 
&c. " Pours forth from every part of the structure a vast tide of 
morning visitants." It was customary with the Romans for clients 
to attend the levees of their patrons at an early hour in the morn- 
ing. — Totis adibus. Showing the large number that had attended. 
— Nee varios inhiant, &c. " If they gape not in silent wonder at 
door-posts diversified with beauteous tortoise-shell," i. e., at splen- 
did portals inlaid with tortoise-shell. The Romans were accustom- 
ed to adorn not only the entrances, but the interior of their dwell- 
ings with tortoise-shell, procured principally from India (Plin., H. 
N., ix., 11, 13), ivory, coloured horn, and various kinds of beauti- 
fully-grained and high-priced Woods. (Compare Ovid, Met., ii., 737. 
— Lucan., x., 119.) — Illusasque auro vestes. "And couch-coverings 
profusely adorned with gold." These were the vestes stragula, a 
species of tapestry spread upon couches, chairs, &c, and richly 
embroidered with gold. They were generally of splendid colours, 
being dyed either with the kermes or the murex. Sometimes the 
figures were woven into them with threads of gold. — Illusas. Ob- 
serve the peculiar force of this term ; the gold is added in such pro- 
fusion as to look like a very mockery of riches. 

Ephyreiaque cera. " And vessels of Corinthian bronze ;" literally, 
" of Ephyreian bronze," Ephyra having been an old name of Cor- 
inth. (Plin., H. N., iv., 4, 5.) The common story of the accidental 
origin of this compound metal at the burning of Corinth by Mura- 
mius is not true, as some of the artists who wrought in it lived a 
long time before the event alluded to. Pliny particularizes three 
kinds of Corinthian bronze. The first, he says, was white (candi- 
dum), the greater proportion of silver that was employed in its com- 
position giving it a light colour. In the second sort, or quality, gold 
was introduced, in sufficient quantity to impart to the mixture a 
strong yellow or gold tint. The third was composed of equal pro- 
portions of the different metals. (Plin., H. N., xxxiv., 3.) — Assyrio 
veneno. " With Assyrian dye." The Tyrian purple is meant. Tyre 
was in Syria, but the Roman poets frequently confound Syria with 



334 "frOT.ES ON THE GEOttGICS\— BOOK II, 

Assyria. — Casid. The cassia here meant is that obtained from the 
cinnamon-tree, aird must not be confounded with the plant of the 
same name mentioned in Eclog., ii., 49. — Usus olivi. "The use 
of the pure oil," *. e., the pure oil itself. Observe the peculiar 
phraseology of usus olivi, instead of oleum quo utuntur, and compare 
Orelli, ad, Horat., Od., iii., 1, 42. 

467-474. At secura quies, &c. "But, then, security and quiet.'' 
Observe the opposition expressed by at, which is here equivalent to 
attamen, and with how much effect it is repeated lower down. Ob- 
serve, too, that quies, and all the nominatives that follow, refer to 
absunt in verse 471. — Nescia fallere. "Ignorant of guile," t. e., 
free from all deceit, marked by purity of principle, and a total ab- 
sence of fraud and deception. For other, but far inferior explana- 
tions, consult Forbiger, ad loc. — Opum. " Resources." — Latis otia 
fundis. " Calm repose amid open fields." This is meant to be in 
opposition to the confinement of a city life. There is no propriety 
whatever in the translation which some give to latis fundis, namely, 
" broad or large farms." The poet has already cautioned against 
extensive possessions in verse 412. The reference is merely to 
open fields affording a wide and pleasing prospect. — Vivique lacus. 
" And living lakes," i. c, with water constantly fresh and running, 
or, as Heyne expresses it, " aqua perenni," i. e., fed by perennial 
springs ; not artificial. 

Frigida Tempe. " Cool vales." Tempe properly denotes the 
beautiful vale in Thessaly, between Ossa and Olympus, through 
which flowed the river Peneus. Here, however, it is taken for 
secluded and shady vales in general. — Molles somni. " Gentle 
slumbers," i. e., sweet and tranquil. — Saltus ac lustra fer arum. 
" The woodland haunts of wild beasts." Hendiadys for " wood- 
lands and the haunts of wild beasts." The allusion is now to the 
pleasures of the chase. — Sacra deum, sanctique patres. " The sacred 
rites of the gods, and parents held in reverence," i. e., there the 
rites of religion are observed, and obedience and respect are paid 
to parents and old age. — Extrema vestigia. " The last prints of her 
footsteps." Astraea, the goddess of justice, came down to earth in 
the Golden Age, and took up her abode among men. When the 
wickedness of the Brazen Age compelled her to retire, she fled first, 
according to Aratus, from the cities into the country, and went 
finally from the latter back again to the skies. (Aral., Phcen., 
100, seqq.) 

475-482. Me vero primum, &c. The poet here declares his nat- 
ural inclination to be towards philosophy and poetry. He states 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK it. 335 

himself to be the priest of the Muses ; and prays them to instruct 
him in astronomy ; to teach him the causes that dim the light of the 
sun and moon, of earthquakes, of the flux and reflux of the sea, and 
of the unequal length of days and nights. The next wish is, that, if 
he cannot obtain this, he may enjoy the calm pleasures of a country 
life. — Dulces ante omnia. We have followed here the punctuation of 
Voss, by which these words are referred to the Muses. Heyne, 
however, takes ante omnia in connexion with accipiant, construing 
as follows : primum ante omnia accipiant me ; but he is sufficiently 
answered by Wagner. — Quarum sacra fero. "Whose sacred things 
I am bearing," i. e., whose priest I am. This is properly said of a 
priest proceeding to sacrifice, and then of a priest generally. — Cozli- 
gue vias et sidera. " The pathways of the stars in the sky." Hen- 
diadys for " the pathways and stars of the sky." 

Defectus solis varios. *> The various causes that dim the lighf 
of the sun." This is commonly rendered, " the various eclipses 
of the sun," but such a version is too limited. The poet refers 
to all the causes that may in any way serve to dim the brightness 
of that luminary. (Voss, ad loc.) — Lunaque labores. "And the 
eclipses of the moon." — Qua vi. " By what motive power." — Tu- 
mescant. Referring to the tides. — Quid tantum Oceano, &c. Why 
the days are so short in winter and so long in summer. — Yd qua 
tardis, &c. " Or what hinderance retards the late-coming nights 
of summer." 

483-485. Sin, has ne possim, &c. " If, however, the chill blood 
.around my heart shall have prevented me from drawing near to 
these parts of nature," i. e., if, however, the want of proper talent 
to grapple with them shall have debarred me from examining into 
these loftier themes. The poet here follows an earlier and popular 
article of belief, that the vital principle of man was in the breath 
(ammo), but that the thinking and perceptive power, or, in other 
words, the soul, was in the blood. Hence, by the expression " the 
Chill blood around his heart," he means a dullness or partial torpor 
of the intellectual faculties, or, in other words, a want of talent. — 
Rigui in vallibus amnts. " The streams that irrigate in the valleys," 
i. e., the cool mountain-streams that descend into and refresh the 
shady valleys. — Inglorius. "Inglorious," i. e., without any of the 
fame arising from the successful culture of philosophy. 

486-489. 0, ubi campi, &c. " Oh (to be) where are the plains, 
and the Spercheus, and Ta> ; getus, revelled upon by the virgins of 
Sparta ! O (for him) who shall place me in the cool vales of Hac- 
mus, and shelter me by the deep shade of -many a bough !" Com- 



336 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

mentators generally regard this passage as interrogative, and, in so 
doing, deprive it of more than half its beauty. The whole is a 
deeply-breathed wish on the part of the poet to be, in reality, where 
his fancy has so often wandered. Oh how longs my heart, he ex- 
claims, for some fair retreat wherein I may dwell during the rest 
of my days, either for the plains of Thessaly or the verdant sum- 
mits of Taygetus, or the cool and shady vales of Thrace ! — Campi, 
Spercheosque. This may be rendered more freely by hendiadys, 
" the plains laved by the Spercheus." The allusion is to a river 
of Thessaly, flowing from a part of the chain of Pindus, and enter- 
ing the sea to the north of Mount CEta. — Taygeta. Taygetus (in 
the plural Taygeta, Tavyera, sc. opj]) was a range of mountains 
running from Arcadia into and through Laconia, and terminating 
in the sea at the promontory of Taenarus. Travellers pronounce 
the plain of Lacedaemon, and Mount Taygetus, in its immediate 
vicinity, as forming the finest locality in Greece. (DodweWs Tour, 
vol. ii., p. 410.) 

Hcemi. Mount Haemus formed the northern boundary of Thrace. 
The modern name is Balcan. It was covered with forests, and con- 
tained many beautiful and shady vales. (Compare Georg., i., 492.) 

490-492. Felix, qui potv.it, &c. " Happy is the man who has 
been able to learn the causes of things." Observe that potuit is 
not used here aoristically, as some maintain, for potest, but is the 
regular perfect, denoting an action now past, but the result of which 
is here described. The same remark will apply to subjecit, &c. 
The meaning of the whole passage, of which this line forms the 
commencement, is simply as follows : Happy, in the first place, is 
the philosopher ; in the second, the husbandman. Under the notion 
of a philosopher, Virgil describes an Epicurean, having been him- 
self bred in the tenets of that sect ; and in three lines he has sum- 
marily expressed the cold and gloomy doctrines which characterized 
that school in relation to a future state : that there is no Divine 
providence, no destiny nor divination, and no immortality of the 
soul. (Bentley, Phil. Lips., $ 20. — Works, ed. Dyce, vol. iii., p. 327.) 

Rerum caussas. Referring to the causes of meteors, thunder, 
lightning, &c, and of such things on earth as are seemingly por- 
tentous and miraculous. In the Epicurean scheme, the ignorance 
of causes was regarded as the sole cause of religious fears. (Bent- 
ley, I. c.) — Inexorabile fatum. The poet means, in fact, that the 
Epicurean doctrine had trampled down the whole notion of destiny 
and divination (elpapfiev7]v nal uav-miiv). — Strepitumque Acherontis 
avari. "And the roar of greedy Acheron." Acheron, one of the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 337 

rivers of the lower world, is here put for that lower world itself, 
never satiated, but always greedy for the souls of the departed. 
Divested of its poetic dress, we have here another article of Epi- 
curean belief, namely, that the soul dies with the body. (Bentley, 
loc. cit.) 

493-494. Fortunatus et Me, &c. The next lower degree of hap- 
piness, in the eyes of the Epicurean poet, is that enjoyed by the 
pious husbandman, who worships the rural divinities. This, also, 
to the eye of the philosopher, is only superstition under another 
aspect, but then it is superstition of the most innocent kind, since 
the deities in question are invoked merely to protect his flocks and 
herds, and foster his crops, &c. — Silvanumque. Consult note on 
Georg., i., 20. — Nymphasque sorores. "And the sister-Nymphs." 
The nymphs all formed one sisterhood. With regard to their sev- 
eral subdivisions, consult note on Eclog., ii., 46. 

495-497. Flexit. "Has moved," i. e., has induced to abandon 
his calm and peaceful mode of life. — Fratres. Alluding to Tiridates 
and Phrahates, the rival claimants for the Parthian throne. They 
both appealed to Augustus, in A.U.C. 724. — Aut conjurato, &c. 
"Or the Dacian, descending from the conspiring Ister," i. e., from 
the banks of the Danube, ever the seat of conspiracy against the 
Roman power. The term Ister is here used to designate the Dan- 
ube in general; strictly speaking, however, Ister was the name 
merely of the eastern part of the Danube, after its junction with 
the Savus or Saave. — Conjurato. The Dacians, Getae, and other 
barbarous tribes, ceased not, whenever the Danube was frozen 
over, to cross and devastate the Roman territories, until they were 
effectually checked, in the consulship of Q. Tubero and Paullus Fa- 
bius, A.U.C. 742, and in the following year, and fortifications were 
thrown up along the banks of the stream. (Suet., Aug., 21.) 

498-503. Non res Romanes, &c " Not the Roman power, and 
kingdoms destined to fall beneath it." (Compare the explanation 
of Wagner : " bella Romanorum cum ezteris gesta, et his exitiosay) — 
Neque Me aut doluit, &c. " Nor has he ever had occasion either to 
commiserate and grieve for the needy one, or to envy the rich." 
Virgil does not mean, that his occupant of the country is wrapped 
up in stoical indifference to the weal or wo of his fellow-men, but 
that, dwelling far away from the scenes of a city-life, he neither 
has his feelings harrowed by a view of the miseries connected with, 
it, nor his envy excited by its luxuries and magnificence. — Habenti. 
Literally, " him that has." (Compare Cic., Ep. ad Fam., vii., 29, 
and Euripides, Here. Fur., 636, ex ovaii; } oc & °v-) 
Ff 



338 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

Ferreajura, &c. " The iron-hearted laws, and the forum maddened 
hy noisy litigation, or the record-offices of the people." By fer- 
reajura the poet means the rigid and unbending exercise of justice, 
that knows neither friend nor foe ; and, by insanumque forum, liti- 
gations in general. From scenes such as these the husbandman is 
far away. So, again, he has not undertaken to farm any portion of 
the public revenues, nor has he at all connected himself with any 
other branch of the public receipts or expenditures. He has never 
seen, therefore, the " populi tabularta." These were places where 
the public records were kept, especially the tabula, censoria, or 
agreements made by the censors with the farmers of the public 
revenue, &c. There were various tabularia in Rome, all of which 
were in temples. 

503-504. Sollicitant alii, &c. In this passage the poet shows the 
superiority of agriculture over many other employments of men ; 
and, first, he exhibits three classes of individuals to our view, the 
trader, the warrior, and the flatterer of the great and powerful. — 
Freta caca. " Seas full of hidden dangers," i. e., rocks, shoals, 
sudden storms, &c. (Voss, ad loc.) Some, less correctly, render 
ccBca "unknown," "hitherto unexplored." — Ruuntque in ferrum. 
"And rush to arms;" more freely, "and others, again, rush to 
arms." Observe that a second class are here meant, and not those 
referred to in " sollicitant alii," &c. — Penetrant aulas, &c. " They 
penetrate the courts," &c, *. e,, a third class make their way into 
the dwellings of the rich and powerful, through the crowds of flat- 
terers who besiege, like them, the mansions of the great. 

505-506. Hie petit excidiis, &c. " This one seeks (to involve) in 
utter ruin his native city, and her wretched Penates," i. e., his 
country and all her most sacred rites and institutions. Mark An- 
tony is supposed by some to be here alluded to, who had, in con- 
junction with Cleopatra, sought the overthrow of Augustus and of 
Rome. — Gemma. " From a gem-formed cup." The luxurious Ro- 
mans used cups made of onyx, beryl, crystal, amber, and other 
costly materials, to all of which the term gemma, taken in a more 
extended sense, may be made to apply. (Compare Voss, ad loc.) — 
Sarrano. " Tyrian." Sarra was the earlier Latin name for the 
city of Tyre. The Oriental form was Tsor, or Sor, for which the 
Carthaginians said Tsar, or Sar, and the Romans, receiving the 
name from these, converted it into Sarra, whence they also formed 
the adjective Sarranus, equivalent to Tyrius. Servius erroneously 
deduces Sarranus from Sar, which, according to him, was the 
Phoenician name for the murex, or shell-fish that yielded the purple. 



^orES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 339 

508-510. Hie stupet attonitus rostris, &c. "This one stands lost 
in stupid amazement at the eloquence of the rostra," i. e., is seized 
with an eager desire for oratorical fame, while he listens with 
amazement to the powerful eloquence of some individual who is 
haranguing the people from the rostra. — Rostris. The stage in the 
forum, from which the orators addressed the people, was called 
Rostra, or " the Beaks." It was originally called templum, hecause 
consecrated by the augurs, but obtained its name of rostra at the 
conclusion of the great Latin war, when it was adorned with the 
beaks (rostra) of the ships of the Antiates. (Liv., viii., 14. — Flor., 
i., U.—Plin., H. N., xxxiv., 5, 11.) 

Hunc plausus hiantem, &c. " This one, his lips parted in silent 
wonder, the applause (that rolls) along the seats of the theatre, 
(for it is the redoubled applause of both the commons and the 
fathers) has aroused," i. e., this other, on hearing the loud burst 
of applause with which all classes greet the entrance into the 
theatre of some popular favourite, is seized himself with a strong 
desire of conciliating the favour of the people. — Hiantem. Literal- 
ly, " gaping (with wonder)." — Cuneos. The term cuneus was ap- 
plied to the compartment of seats in circular or semicircular thea- 
tres, which were so arranged as to converge to the centre of the 
theatre, and diverge towards the external walls of the building, 
with passages between each compartment. Hence the name cu- 
neus, applied to each of these compartments, from its wedge-like 
form. — Geminatus enim. For geminatus enim plausus est. 

510-515. Gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum. " Others, again, take 
delight in being bedewed with their brothers' blood." i. e., delight in 
civil conflicts, and in shedding fraternal blood. The participle is 
here employed, according to the grammarians, for the infinitive 
mood, in imitation of the Greek idiom. The literal construction, 
however, is, in reality, as follows : " Being bedewed, &c, rejoice 
thereat." — Agricola incurvo, &c. "The husbandman (meanwhile) 
has been turning up the earth with the bending plough." Observe 
here the beautiful use of the perfect. While all these scenes of 
violence, and bloodshed, and misdirected energies are passing with- 
out, the husbandman, within the precincts of his little farm, has 
been calmly pursuing the peaceful employments of rural life, and 
discharging the duties which he owes to his country and to those 
around him. — Hinc anni labor. "With this commences the labour 
of the year." Heyne, less correctly, regards anni labor as referring 
to the annual products of agricultural labour. 

Hinc patriam, &c. " From this he sustains," &c. Heyne ob- 



340 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 

jects to patriam, and would prefer parentem, but he is well answer- 
ed by Wagner : " Quidni autem patriam 1 nonne agrorum proventu 
ornncs cives aiuntur ?" There is also, as the same critic remarks, a 
pleasing opposition between the infatuated citizens who seek to 
ruin their country, and the husbandman whose labours sustain it. 
— Meritosque juvencos. "And well-deserving steers," i. c, who 
have merited all his care by their faithful participation in his labours. 
516-518. Nee requies, quin, &c. " Neither is there any intermis- 
sion, but the season of the year is either exuberant in fruits," &c. ; 
literally, " neither is there any intermission, so that the year be not 
either exuberant," &c, i. e., there is no intermission to the year's 
being either exuberant, &c. Observe that quin, in a literal trans- 
lation, is equivalent here to ut non. (Zumpt, L. (?., § 539.) — Cere- 
alts mergite culmi. "With the sheaf of Ceres' stalk," i. e., with 
sheaves of corn. — Proventu. " With increase." — Vincat. "More 
than fills," i. e., proves too large for. 

519-522. Venit hiems. "Winter has come." Here, again, ob- 
serve the beautiful change of tense, by which the change of season 
is brought at once before the view. Voss makes venit here for ubi 
venit, and the clause to be uttered, as it were, interrogatively, which 
quite destroys all its spirit. — Sicyonia bacca. By "the Sicyonian 
berry" the olive is meant. Sicyon, an old city of the Peloponnesus, 
not far from Corinth, towards the northwest, was famed for the ol- 
ives produced in its vicinity. — Trapetis. " In the oil-mills." For 
a description of these, consult Cato, R. R., 20. (Compare, also, 
Varro, L. L., v., 31, and R. R., i., 55, 5.) — Glande sues, &c. Wun- 
derlich (ad Tibull, i., 3, 40) connects glande in construction with 
redeunt, incorrectly, however ; the order is glande l<zti. — Arbuta. 
Consult note on Eclog., vii., 46. — Ponit. "Lays down," i. e., sup- 
plies. — Coquitur. " Ripens." 

523-526. Cireum oscula. " Around his lips put forth to kiss." 
A beautifully expressive term. Oscula is here equivalent to ora ad 
osculandum porrecta. — Casta pvdicitiam, &c. " The chaste abode 
preserves all its purity," »". e., purity of principle reigns unimpaired 
throughout the chaste abode. — Demittunt. " Hang down." 

527-531. Ipse dies agitat festos. " The farmer himself celebrates 
festal days." — Ignis ubi in medio. " Where there is a fire burning 
in the midst," i. e., on a rustic altar in the centre of the group. — 
Cratera coronant. " Crown the wine," i. e., deck with garlands the 
mixer containing the diluted liquor. Buttmann, in his Lexilogus 
(page 293, seq., ed. Fishl.), has very satisfactorily shown, that we 
are not, in rendering these words, to think of the Homeric kirtori- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK II. 341 

Qecdat noTolo, " to fill high with wine," since Virgil, in that case, 
would have written vinoque coronant. — Lenae. " Oh ! god of the 
wine-press." Consult note on verse 7. — Pecorisque magistris, &c. 
" And sets on foot, for the keepers of his herd, trials of skill with 
the fleet javelin (against a mark) placed on an elm." Heyne makes 
certamina equivalent here to certaminis prcemia, according to which 
explanation the farmer places the " prizes of the contest" on the 
elm ; but Wunderlich is more correct in regarding cerlamen pono as 
precisely analogous to the Greek ayQva npoTidrjfjii, " I institute a 
contest." — Agresti palcestrce. "For the rustic wrestling-match." 
We have adopted palcestrce with Wagner, as far superior to the com- 
mon reading palcestrd. The dative is required here, not the abla- 
tive. 

532-535. Sabini. The old Sabine race were remarkable for grav- 
ity of character and purity of morals. — Crevit. " Grew in power." 
This result was effected, according to the poet, by the fostering 
care bestowed upon agriculture. — Scilicet et Roma, &c. " Ay, and 
Rome has become (by this means) the fairest of created things," i. 
e., the mistress of the world. (Compare the Greek, xPVr 10 - Kaklia- 
tov.) As regards the force of scilicet here, compare note on Georg., 
i., 282. — Septemque una sibi, &c. " And though a single city has 
encircled seven heights for herself with a wall." The reference is 
to the seven hills of Rome. 

536-542. Sceptrum Dictcei regis. Alluding to the reign of Jove, 
who is here called the Dictaean monarch, because concealed and 
nurtured during infancy in a cave of Mount Dicte in Crete, in order 
to escape the hands of Saturn, who wished to swallow him. — Ante 
impia quam, &c. The eating of flesh came in with the Brazen Age. 
Mankind, up to that period, lived upon the productions of the earth. 
— In terris. In Latium, during the Golden Age. Hence Saturn is 
here called " golden" (aureus), in allusion to that age. — Necdum etiam 
audierant, &c. Nor had they heard, as yet, of wars and bloodshed. 
These came in with the Brazen Age. — Sed nos immensum spadis, 
&c. " But we have traversed in our course a field of vast extent." 
A figurative allusion to the races of the circus. The whole course 
was called spatia, because the match included more than one circuit. 
(Consult note on Georg., i., 513.) — Tempus. Supply est. 
Ff2 



342 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 



BOOK III. 

Analysis of the Subject. 

I. General statement of the contents of the hook, namely, the 
management of cattle and of domestic animals, (v. 1-2.) 

II. Novelty of the subject, as contrasted with the trite and fabu- 
lous topics that have occupied the attention of previous bards, (v. 
3-9.) 

III. On completing this theme, the poet promises to celebrate the 
victories of the Romans, under the auspices of Augustus, in an 
epic production, (v. 10-39.) 

IV. Invocation of Maecenas, (v. 40-48.) 

V. The poet now enters on his subject, and treats of horses and 
cattle, (v. 49-285.) 

(A.) The cow : her form. (v. 51-59.)— Her age. (v. 60-71.) 
(B.) The horse, and its characteristics. * (v. 72-74.) — Considered 

as a colt. (v. 75-82 )— As now grown up. (v. 83-94.) — The 

age and spirit of a horse to be diligently considered, (v. 95- 

101.) — And also his fitness for the chariot-race. (v. 102-114.) 

—And for riding, (v. 115-122.) 
(C.) The preparing of steeds for the propagation of their species : 

Of the sire. (v. 123-128.)— Of the dam. (v. 129-137.) 
(D.) Care of the female after conception, (v. 138-145.) — Care 

to be especially taken in guarding against the gad-fly, or asilus. 

(v. 146-156.) 
E.) Care to be taken of calves, (v. 157-178.) — Of colts, (v. 

179-208.) 
(F.) Of preserving the strength of horses and bulls, (v. 209-216.) 

— Description of a combat between two steers, (v. 217-241.) 
(G.) Violent effects of love in animals and in men. (v. 242-265.) 

— Especially in mares, (v. 266-270.) — Wind-conception, (v. 

271-285.) 

VI. Of sheep and goats, (v. 286-473.)— Introduction, (v. 286- 
293.) 

(A.) Care of sheep in the winter season, (v. 294-299.) — Care 
of goats during the same season, (v. 300-3*05.) — Goats of no 
less value than sheep, (v. 306-321.) 

(B.) How sheep and goats are to be managed when the weather 
grows warm. (v. 322-338.) 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 343 

(C.) Pastoral life of the Africans, (v. 339-348.)— Of the Scythi- 
ans, (v. 349-383.) 

(D.) Directions about taking care of the wool. (v. 384-393.) — 
Care of the milk. (v. 394-403.) 

(E.) Protection afforded by dogs, and care to be taken of them, 
(v. 404-413.) 

(F.) Precautions to be taken against serpents, (v. 414-439.) 

(G.) Diseases to which sheep and cattle are subject : The scab, 
(v. 440-463.)— The pestilence, (v. 464-473.) 

VII. Description of the great pestilence which attacked the flocks 
and herds in Noricum, &c. (v. 474-566.) 

(A.) Origin and general nature of this disease, (v. 478-485.) 

(B.) Infection of particular classes of animals: 1. The weaker 
kind, such as sheep, calves, dogs, swine, (v. 486-497.) — 2. 
The stronger animals, such as horses (v. 498-514) ; cattle (v. 
515-536).— 3. Wild animals, (v. 537-540.)— 4. And, finally, 
fishes, serpents, and birds, (v. 541-547.) 

(C.) Inutility of the remedies employed, (v. 548-550.) — Increas- 
ing violence of the distemper, (v. 551-558.) — The skin of the 
dead animals useless, and the wool possessed of poisonous 
properties, (v. 559-566.) 



BOOK III. 

1-2. Te, quoque, magna Pales, &c. The poet, intending to make 
the management of cattle and domestic animals the subject of his 
third book, unfolds his design by saying that he will sing of Pales, 
the goddess presiding over cattle and pastures ; of Apollo, who fed 
the herds of Admetus, on the banks of the Amphrysus ; and of the 
woods and streams of Lycaeus, a mountain of Arcadia, famous for 
its sheep. He then expresses his contempt for the fabulous poems, 
the subjects of which, he says, are all trite and vulgar, and hopes 
by his theme to soar above all other bards. — Pales. Pales was the 
goddess presiding over cattle and pastures. Her festival, called 
the Palilia, was celebrated on the 21st of April, and was regarded 
as the day on which Rome had been founded. — Et te, memorande, 
&c. " And of thee, deserving of every mention, O shepherd from 
the Amphrysus." The allusion is to Apollo, who, when banished 
for a period from the skies, for killing the Cyclopes, and ordered 
by Jupiter to become a servant to a mortal man, chose for that pur- 



844 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

pose Admetus, king of Pherae, in Thessaly, and served him for a 
whole year, tending this prince's flocks and herds on the banks of 
the Amphrysus. — Ab Amphryso. An imitation of the Greek idiom, 
vofievc 'k^pvarjdev. The ordinary Latin form of expression would 
be Pastor Amphrysie, " Amphrysian shepherd." — Lyccei. Consult 
note on Eclog., x., 15. 

3-6. Cetera. " The other themes." — Omnia jam vulgata. " Are 
all by this time become common," i. e., trite or threadbare. — Eurys- 
thea durum. " Eurystheus, severe in his exactions." Referring to 
the legend of Hercules, and Eurystheus, who imposed upon him his 
memorable labours. — Aut illaudati Busiridis aras. " Or the altars 
of Busiris, in whom there is naught deserving of praise," i. e., of 
the in every way execrable Busiris. Compare the explanation of 
Voss : " an welchem man nichts zu loben weiss." The true force 
of illaudatus here is well expressed by Aulus Gellius (ii., 6) : " qui 
neque mentione aut memorid ulla dignus, neque unquam memorandus 
est." Busiris, who is represented in Greek legends as an execrable 
tyrant, was king of Egypt, and, in consequence of an oracle, offered 
up all strangers on the altar of Jove. He was destroyed by Hercu- 
les, whom he had attempted to immolate in this same way. 

Cui. "By whom." Graecism for a quo. — Hylas. He was the 
favourite of Hercules, and accompanied that hero on the Argonau- 
tic expedition. Having gone, however, to a fountain on the coast 
of Mysia, for the purpose of drawing water, he was laid hold of and 
kept by the nymphs of the spring, into which he had dipped his urn. 
— Latonia Delos. Delos, an island in the ^Egean Sea, and one of 
the group of the Cyclades, was fabled to have floated about under 
water, until Neptune ordered it to appear and stand firm, for the 
purpose of receiving Latona, who was delivered on it of Apollo and 
Diana. Hence the epithet "Latonian." 

7-9. Hippodameque. Hippodame, or Hippodamea, was daughter 
of CEnomaus, king of Pisa, and famed for her beauty. Her father 
promised her in marriage to the one who should conquer him in the 
chariot-race, but all who failed to so conquer were to lose their 
lives. Pelops won the race. — Humero insignis eburno. " Distin- 
guished for his ivory shoulder." This was the shoulder, according 
to the legend, which Jupiter gave to Pelops, to replace the one that 
had been eaten by Ceres in a fit of abstraction, at the well-known 
banquet given by Tantalus, the father of Pelops, to the gods. — 
Acer equis. " Spirited in the management of steeds." Referring 
to his skill in managing the four-horse chariot in the race with 
CEnomaus. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 345 

Tentanda via est, &c. The |ioet means, that some theme must 
also be selected by him, in the management of which he may dis- 
tance all preceding poets. — Victorque virum, &c. "And hover, vic- 
torious, o'er the lips of men." Imitated from Ennius, " Volito vivus 
per ora virum." 

10-12. Primus ego in patriam, &c. As the first Roman poet that 
has sung of rural themes, he will lead the Muses, if his life be 
spared, from the summit of Helicon into Italy, his native land ; 
and, as the first Mantuan that has cultivated poetry, he will bring 
glory, also, on his native province. — Aonio vertice. " From the Aoni- 
an summit," i. e., from the summit of Helicon, one of the favourite 
abodes of the Muses. Helicon was in Bceotia, and the epithet 
11 Aonian" is here applied to it, because Aonia was the earlier name 
of Bceotia, from the Aones, its inhabitants after the Ectenes, which 
last were the first dwellers in the land. — Deducam Musas. To lead 
down the Muses into one's native land is equivalent to being the 
first, in one's own country, conspicuous for succes-s in the poetic art 
generally, or in some particular department of it. — Primus Idumatas 
referam, &c. " I will be the first to bear away for thee, O Mantua, 
the Idumean palm," i. e., I will be the first of thy sons, Mantua, 
to reflect glory upon thee by success in the poetic art. The palm 
was the symbol of victory, and hence to bear away the palm is the 
same as to bear away victory itself. The epithet " Idumean," 
moreover, is simply an ornamental one, the palm-trees of Idumea, 
on the confines of Palestine and Arabia, being particularly celebra- 
ted. Indeed, the palms of Judea generally were in high repute, 
and hence Pliny says, "Judcea inclyta palmis." (H. N., xiii., 4, 6.) 

13-18. Templum de marmore ponam. The conquering poet will 
erect a temple near his native place to Caesar Octavianus, as his 
tutelary deity. This temple is to be, in fact, none other than the 
noble poem of the iEneid, in which Augustus is to stand enshrined 
for the admiration of coming ages. (Voss, ad loc.) — Propter. Old 
idiom for prope. (Compare Eclog., viii., 87.) — Prcetexit. " Fringes." 
— Mihi CcBsar erit. " Shall my Caesar be." The dativus ethicus 
may here be rendered by the possessive pronoun. — Templumque 
tenebit. " And shall hold the temple as his own," i. e., no other 
divinity shall share it with him. — Illi. " In honour of him." The 
consecration of this temple is to be accompanied by splendid games. 
— Conspectus. " Conspicuous." Those who presided over public 
games wore the praetexta, a white robe bordered with purple. — 
Centum quadrijugos, &c. " Will urge onward in the race a hundred 
four-horse chariots by the river's banks," i. e., will urge onward as 



346 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 



institutor of the games, or, in other words, will cause to be driven. 
The poet's games are modelled after those of the Roman circus. 
In these last, the usual number that started for each race was four, 
and twenty-five races were run in each day. Hence his hundred 
chariots. 

19-20. Cuncta mihi, &c. The meaning of the allegory now be- 
gins to be more apparent. All Greece is to come and contend at 
the poet's games, acknowledging them by this very act to be supe- 
rior to her own Olympian and Nemean contests. The poet's games, 
then, are nothing more than the heroic deeds of the Romans from 
iEneas to Augustus, as intended to be sung by Virgil in his ^Eneid, 
and which even Greece herself will confess to be far before the 
most brilliant achievements of any of her own sons. — Alpheum. 
The Olympic games were celebrated on the banks of the Alpheus, 
and are, therefore, here referred to. The Alpheus flowed through 
Arcadia and Elis. — Lucosque Molorchi. Molorchus was a shepherd 
who lived near Cleonae, in Argolis, and hospitably entertained Her- 
cules when the latter was going after the Nemean lion. It was in 
commemoration of the destruction of this animal that the Nemean 
games were either instituted or revived. They are, therefore, 
meant here. Observe, also, that the other Grecian games are 
meant to be comprehended under the two that are mentioned by 
the poet. 

Crudo cestu. " With the ox-hide cestus." Cestus signified the 
thongs, or bands, of ox-hide, which were tied round the hands of 
boxers, in order to render their blows more powerful. As raw ox- 
hide was originally used for this purpose, we see the propriety of 
the epithet crudus here employed by the poet. Leather was after- 
ward substituted. The cestus became most formidable, when, as 
was the case in later times, it was covered with knots and nails, 
and loaded with lead and iron. The following wood-cut represents 
figures of the cestus. 




21-25. Tonsa olivet. " Of the shorn olive." The corona tonsa^ 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 347 

or tonsilis, was made of leaves only, stripped or shorn from the 
bough, and was so called in contradistinction to the corona nexilis, 
in which the whole branch was inserted. — Dona. " Offerings." — 
Jam nunc. " Now, even now." The poet, under the influence of 
his ardent feelings, fancies the intended games already begun, and 
speaks of the movements connected with them as actually going 
on. — Sollcmnes ducere pompas. "To lead the solemn procession." 
The poet's intended games are here again modelled after those in 
the circus. The Circensian games always commenced with a 
grand procession (pompa), in which all those who were about to 
exhibit in the circus, as well as persons of distinction, bore a part. 
The statues of the gods formed the most conspicuous feature in the 
show, and were paraded upon wooden platforms and carriages. 

Vel scena ut oersis, &c. " Or how the scene shifts with changing 
front.'* Scenic exhibitions are also to form part of the ceremonies 
at the consecration of the poet's temple. The reference here is to 
what was technically called scena versatilis, when by means of ma- 
chines, termed in the Greek theatres 7repiaKToi, and which resem- 
bled in form a prism, a total change of scenery was produced by a 
single turn. Opposed to this was the scena ductilis, when the scen- 
ery parted, and disclosed behind it the interior of a dwelling, &c. — 
Utque purpurea, &c. " And how the inwoven Britons raise the pur- 
ple curtain." On the aulaa, or curtain of Virgil's intended stage, 
are to be represented Britons, forming part of the texture, and 
which appear to rise from the ground and raise the curtain as it 
ascends. The curtain was raised at the end of the ancient perform- 
ances, and lowered at the beginning. When lowered, it was rolled 
up on a roller under the stage.; — Britanni. The Britons had sent 
ambassadors to Caesar Octavianus, when in Gaul, and preparing an 
expedition against them (A.U.C. 727), and had sued for peace. 
Roman pride, therefore, regarded them from that period as a con- 
quered race. They are here represented, then, on the aulaa, part- 
ly to gratify national pride by this allusion to a recently subjugated 
race, and partly on account of the great stature which common re- 
port ascribed to them and the Germans. 

26-29. Elcphanio. The term elephantus is used here, in imitation 
of the Greek, for ebur. — Gangaridum. The Gangaridae were an In- 
dian nation, dwelling near the mouth of the Ganges, and, in poetic 
language, said to dwell on the farthest confines of the Eastern 
world. Being regarded as subject to the Parthian rule, and the 
Parthians having acknowledged the power of Augustus by deliver- 
ing up the Roman standards taken from Crassus, the poet may here 



348 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

be allowed, in the ardour of the moment, to speak of a contest with 
this distant people, which had no existence whatever in sober real- 
ity. — Quirini. Under the name of Quirinus (an appellation properly 
of Romulus) Augustus is, in fact, meant. — Atque hie. Referring to 
another part of the temple-gateway, so that one of the valva, or 
sides of the folding-door, would represent the conflict with the Gan- 
garidae, the other the Nile. — TJndantem hello, &c. "Swelling with 
the waves of war, and flowing onward with a copious tide of wa- 
ters." An allusion to Marc Antony, and the great preparations 
made by him in Egypt and throughout the East, but which had been 
brought to naught by the battle of Actium. — Navali surgentes, &c. 
Servius states, that Augustus constructed four columns from the 
beaks of the ships captured at Actium, which Domitian afterward 
placed in the Capitol, and which were remaining when Servius 
wrote, in the age of Arcadius and Honorius. (Voss, ad loc.) 

30-33. Urbes Asia domitas. Voss thinks that certain cities of 
Asia Minor are here meant, which had been punished by Augustus 
for withstanding his authority. — Pulsumque Niphaten. "And the 
vanquished Niphates." Niphates, a mountain of Armenia, is here 
put for that country itself, and the poet is supposed to refer to the 
establishment of Tigranes on the Armenian throne, by the Roman 
forces under Tiberius, while Augustus himself was present in Lower 
Asia. — Fidentemque fugd Parthum, &c. The Parthians were famed 
for their skill in discharging the bow while flying from an enemy. 
— Duo tropcea. One for the victory over Cleopatra (A.U.C. 723), 
and the other for the reduction of the Cantabri in Spain (A.U.C. 
729.) 

Bisque triumphatas, &c. " And the nations twice triumphed over 
on either shore." The nations here meant are the Eastern com- 
munities- on the one hand, and the Cantabrians on the other. The 
two triumphs in the former case are, first, that over Cleopatra; and, 
secondly (what to a Roman was equivalent to a triumph), the re- 
covery of the standards from the Parthians. So in the case of the 
Cantabrians, they had been first overcome A.U.C. 729, and, be- 
coming again tumultuous, were punished a second time by Carisius 
and Turnius, A.U.C. 732. 

34-36. Parii lapides, &c. " Parian marble, breathing statues," 
i. e., breathing statues of Parian marble. Paros, one of the Cyc- 
lades, was famed for its statuary marble. The statues on this oc- 
casion are to be those of the progenitors of the Julian line. — Assa- 
raci proles. " The descendants of Assaracus," i. e., the progenitors 
of the Julian line. This family claimed descent from lulus, son of 



NOTES ON THE GEORGIOS. BOOK III. 349 

JSneas. Anchises, father of JSneas, was son of Capys, and Capys 
was son of Assaracus. Assaracus, again, was son of Tros, Tros of 
Erichthonius, Erichthonius of Dardanus, and Dardanus of Jupiter. 

Trojce Cynthius auctor. A statue of Apollo is to be added to the 
group. This god was called Cynthius, from Mount Cynthus in De- 
los, where he was born. Together with Neptune he built the walls 
of Troy, and is hence styled by the poet " Trojaz auctor." This is 
all done to flatter Augustus, who had Apollo for his tutelary deity, 
and was even believed by the ignorant multitude to be his son. 
(Voss, ad loc.) 

37-39. Invidia infelix. Alluding to those who envied the glory 
of Augustus, of whom there must have been many at Rome, the 
former partisans of the opposite side. — Metuei. This verb is equiv- 
alent here, in fact, to " terrebitur adspcctu," i. e., "videbit." Envy 
shall be driven down to Tartarus, and there tremble at the punish- 
ment that is to come upon it. — Tortosque Ixionis angues. Ixion 
was fastened to a wheel beset with serpents : " rdigatus ad rotam 
circumfusam scrpentibus.'' , (Serv. ad JEn., vi., 601.) — Et non exsu- 
perabile saxum. " And the not-to-be-conquered stone (of Sisyphus)," 
i. e., the ever-rolling stone. 

40-45. Interea. " Meanwhile," i. e., before the temple is reared. 
lntactos. " Untouched." Because no Roman poet had as yet at- 
tempted such a theme as the management of cattle, &c. — Tua, hand 
mollia jussa. " Thy by no means easy commands," i. e., a difficult 
task, which thy commands have enjoined upon me. — Nil altum in- 
choat. " Enters upon nothing lofty," i. e., undertakes no lofty 
theme. — En ! age, segnes, &c: Not addressed to Maecenas, as 
Heyne thinks, but, as Cerda, Ruaeus, Voss, and Wagner maintain, 
by the poet to himself. — Vocat ingenti clamore Cithairon, &c. The 
meaning of the figure is, that the true interests of this branch of 
husbandry earnestly demand the poet's attention — Cithceron. A 
mountain of Bceotia, midway between Thebes and Corinth, and 
feeding numerous herds of cattle. —Taygetique canes. Mount Ta- 
ygetus, in Laconia, was famed for its hunting grounds and its hounds. 
The reputation of the Spartan hunting dogs generally was very high 
among the ancients. — Epidaurus. Epidaurus, in Argolis, and, in- 
deed, all Argolis itself, enjoyed a great name for fine breeds of hor- 
ses. (Compare Horace, Ort., i., 7, 9 : " Aptum dicit equis Argos.") — 
Et vox assensu nemorum, &c. " And the cry, redoubled by the con- 
spiring assent of the groves, rolls echoing along." 

46-48. Mox tamen ardentes, &c. Hurd regards these three lines 
as spurious (ad Horat., Ep. ad Aug., 18). Watson, too, thinks the 
Go 



350 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

expression " ardentes pugnas" unworthy of the Augustan age. The 
objections of both, however, are clearly hypercritical. — Accingar 
dicere. Observe the unusual construction of accingar with the in- 
finitive, instead of ad with the gerund {ad dicendum). — Tot per 
annos, Tithoni, &c. " Through as many years as Caesar is distant 
from the first origin of Tithonus," i. e., from Tithonus, simply. 
Tithonus, son of Laomedon, was among the most distinguished of 
that family, from which J2neas was descended. The poet, there- 
fore, names him, though not one of the direct ancestors of Augus- 
tus. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

49-53. Seu quis, Olympiaca, &c. Here the poet enters upon the 
subject of this book, and, in the first place, describes the marks of 
a good cow. — Olympiaca palmce. " Of the Olympian prize." The 
Olympic games, as the most celebrated, are here made to represent 
the ancient games generally. The palm was a general symbol of 
victory, and the victors, besides wearing the crown peculiar to the 
games in which they had contended, carried a branch of palm in 
their hands. Hence palmce here for victoria. — Fortes. " Sturdy." 
— Prcecipue. " With especial care." 

Optima torvce forma bonis, &c. " The form of the stern-eyed cow 
is best," &c. Though the poet here does not directly say so, yet 
he evidently means the expression of the eye, or, as we would 
term it, the look to be taken into account ; and therefore the 
meaning of the passage, when given freely, will be this : " the best 
kind of cow is that which has a stern and lowering look," &c. 
(Compare the description of a good cow given by Varro, where he 
speaks of the " oculis magnis et nigris." R. R., ii., 5, 7.) — Turpe. 
" Disproportionately large." We have here expressed by a single 
term the blended idea conveyed by the Greek povc evpvu.erwKoc, and 
the language of Columella, " nee ab aspectu decoros" (vi., 1, 2). — Plu- 
rima cervix. "A fleshy, strong neck;" literally, "a very large 
neck." As cattle were at this period bred principally for the pur- 
pose of draught, strength was the first requisite. The description 
of a good cow here given is not to be understood, therefore, as of a 
good milker, or of a breed disposed to fat. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

54-59. Turn lov.go nullus, &c. " And then, again, (there should 
be) no ordinary limit to her long side," i. e., her side should be un- 
usually long. Compare the Greek (3adinr?,evpoc, " deep-flanked." 
— Pes etiam. Etiam is here emphatic, as an extraordinary case, 
because, in other creatures, generally, a large foot is far from being 
a beauty.— Maculis insignis et albo. M If she be marked with spots 
of white." Hendiadys for macvXis albis. — Aspera cornu. "Threat- 



NOTES 0*N THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 351 

ening with her horn," i. e., showing the vigour of her frame by her 
threatening movements. — Faciem. " In general appearance." Ob- 
serve that fades is not merely indicative here of the look, but of 
shape, frame, form, &e. Hence Voss renders the clause, " Nicht 
unahnlich dem Stier an Gestalt ;" whereas, in verse 51 above, he 
translates the words " Optima torva forma bovis" as follows : "Trot- 
ziges Ansekns sei die Kuh." — Ardua. " Tall." 

60-65. Mtas Lucinam. &c. " The age for breeding and proper 
union." — Cetera. " The rest of their time," i. e., either before the 
fourth year, or subsequent to the tenth. With cetera supply atas. — 
Fozturae. "Forbearing." — Fortis. " Strong enough." — Gregibus. 
The number of females in a herd, or flock, exceeding that of males ; 
this term is to be applied to the cows. (Valpy, ad loc.) — Lata ju- 
vcntas. The period referred to is from the fourth to the tenth year. 
— Primus. Compare Georg., ii., 408. — Pecuaria. The pastures 
put poetically for the herd. — Suffice. " Secure." 

66-71. Optima quaque dies, &c. "Each best time of life flees 
first away from wretched mortals." A sentiment applying prop- 
erly to the human race is here extended to cattle also. — Rapit. 
" Hurries them away." — Quarum mutari, &c. Columella says, the 
best breeders are to be selected every year. — Semper enim refi.ce. 
"Therefore continually replace;" literally, "refit," i.e., the herd. 
Supply armentwm. Enim is here regarded as equivalent to igitur, 
and may be so rendered conveniently enough. In truth, however, 
it is the very term to be employed here ; since in the words semper 
erunt quarum, &c, there lurks some such an idea as this, " semper 
inquire, qua botes rcjicienda sint." (Wunderlich, ad loc.) 

Ac, ne post amissa requiras. " And, that you may not afterward 
seek (when it is too late) for those that you have lost," i. e., seek 
to supply their place. — Anteveni, et sobolem, &c. " Be beforehand, 
and choose for the herd young accessions every year." Observe 
that sortior is here taken in the general sense of choosing and sub- 
stituting. — Sobolem. Referring to the young females brought into 
the herd of cows every year, to supply the places of those that have 
been removed. Compare the version of Voss : " und verjiinge die 
Heerd' in jahrlichem Anwachs." — Armento. The herd is still con- 
sidered as consisting of females. Compare note on verse 63. 

72-74. Nee non et pecori, &c. " The same discrimination is also 
to be exercised for a breed of horses." — Quos in spem statues, &c. 
" On those whom you shall determine to bring up for the hope of 
the race," i. e., those on whom you are to depend for the increase 
of their species. Observe that quos is here for iis quos. — Submit' 



352 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

terc. Consult the remarks of Heyne on this verb. — Continuo peco- 
ris generosi, &c. " In earliest youth the colt of a generous breed 
walks high on his pasterns throughout the fields." There is no 
reference here to loftiness or pride of carriage, but merely to pecu- 
liarity of gait. Compare Varro, " Cruribus rectis et aqualibus" 
(R. R., ii., 7), and Columella, " JEqualibus alque altis rectisque cru- 
ribus'''' (vi., 29) — Et mollia crura reponit. " And places flexile limbs 
in alternate succession on the ground." By mollia crura are meant 
crura non rigide protenta ; flexibilia. Compare Voss : " und setzt 
die geschmeidigen Schenkel." It i-s the same, moreover, as the 
vypuc KdfiTrTeiv ydvara, and the vypue role CKtKtai xpvodat of Xeno- 
phon, Eq., i., 6 ; x., 15. 

77-83. Primus et ire viam, &c. Servius understands this of the 
colt's walking before his dam ; but it seems a better interpretation, 
that he is the first among other colts to lead the way. — Ignoto ponti. 
** To some unknown bridge." Some MSS. have ponto, but the com- 
mon reading is sufficiently defended by two passages from Colu- 
mella cited by Heinsius. (Colum., vi., 2 ; vi., 29.) — Nee vanes horret 
strepitus. Observe here the force of vanos : unmeaning, empty 
sounds he heeds not, but he is delighted with the din of arms. — 
Argutumque. "Neatly formed and quick in moving." (Voss, ad 
loc.) — Obesaque terga. " And brawny back," i. e , broad and brawny. 
— Luxuriatque toris animosum pectus. "And his spirited breast 
swells luxuriantly with prominent muscles." — Honesti spadices, glau- 
cique. " Those held in most esteem are of a bright bay and gray 
colour." Spadix is from the Greek onddii;, which signifies, first, a 
branch of a palm plucked off with the fruit ; and then, the fruit of the 
palm being of a shining red, onuSiS; is employed as an adjective, to 
denote that colour. Spadix, therefore, in the present case, may be 
rendered " bright bay." 

Glaucique. Servius explains very clearly the colour that is here 
meant, by comparing it to that of a cat's eyes : " Glauci autem sunt 
felineis oculis, id est, quodam splendor e perfusis." He means a bright 
gray. — Gilvo. " Sorrel." Servius calls this " a honey colour" 
(melinus color) ; but as there are different shades in the colour of 
honey, the matter is left quite uncertain. Martyn translates it 
" dun ;" but Valpy's opinion appears the more correct one, who 
thinks that gilvus was more probably a shade of the colour termed 
sorrel. (Compare gilvus with the German gelb, " yellow.'') 

84-88. Stare loco. " To stand still." — Tremit artus. " Quivers 
in every limb." — Ignem. Beautifully applied to the ardent breath- 
ing or smoke of his nostrils. — Densa juba, &c. So Columella, 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 353 

" Dcnsa juba, et per dextram 'partem profusa." — At duplex agitur, &c. 
" But a double spine runs along his loins ;" literally, " is driven." 
A double spine is mentioned by all the ancient writers on the sub- 
ject as the sure mark of a good horse. (Varro, R. R., ii., 7, 5. — 
Columella vi., 29, 2. — Gcopon., xvi., 1.) In a horse that is in good 
case, the back is broad, and a fullness of flesh near the s-pine is in- 
dicated, by which two ridges are formed, one at each side of the 
bone. This is what the ancients mean by a double spine. (Valpy, 
ad loc.)—Solido cornu. The poet means that he must have hard 
hoofs. 

89-94. Talis, Cyllarus. Supply erat. The celebrated steed Cyl- 
larus, one of those given to the two brothers by Juno, is commonly 
spoken of in connexion with the name of Castor, since he was, it 
seems, the horseman, whereas Pollux was famed for his skill with 
the cestus. Sometimes, however, each of the brothers is repre- 
sented sitting on horseback. — Aymclcei. Castor and Pollux were 
born, or, according to another account, brought up at Amyclae, in 
Laconia, whence the epithet " Amyclean," bestowed on each of 
them. — El magni currus Achilli. " And those that drew the chariot 
of the mighty Achilles." Currus is here put for the steeds that 
drew it. A similar usage prevails in Greek, in the case of upua. 

Talis et ipse, &c. " Such, too, was Saturn himself, when he 
poured forth the horse's mane along his neck, swift of movement 
at the coming of his spouse ;" more literally, " poured (i. e., spread) 
a mane along his equine neck." Saturn having become enamoured 
of the ocean-nymph Philyra, and dreading the jealousy of his wife 
Rhea, changed the former into a mare, and himself into a horse, and 
thus became the father of Chiron the centaur. — Conjugis. Rhea. 
— Pclion. Consult note on Georg., i., v. 281. 

95-96. Hunc quoque, &c. Having given this spirited description 
of the characteristics of a good horse, the poet now observes that, 
if the animal happens to be sick, or if he grows old, he is to be 
confined at home, and restrained from keeping company with others 
of his species. The age, therefore, and spirit of the horse are to be 
diligently considered. From this the poet passes gracefully into a 
fine description of a chariot race, and an account of the inventors 
of chariots,- and of the art of riding on horseback. — Gravis. " En- 
feebled." — Abde domo. " Hide at home," i. e., remove from the 
pastures and the stud, and keep him at home, in the stable, for do- 
mestic purposes. With domo supply in, so that in domo becomes 
equivalent to in stabulo. The verb abde, moreover, is intended to 
mark the change from a life of freedom and enjoyment to one of 
Gg2 



354 NOTES OX THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

comparative obscurity. (Compare Voss, ad loc.) — Nee turpi ignosce 
senectee. " Nor be indulgent to inglorious age," i. e., do not, through 
a mistaken kindness, allow him, now that his powers are enfeebled, 
and inglorious old age has come upon him, to continue to roam in 
the pastures where he can be no longer of any service. We have 
given here the explanation of Voss and others, which is far more 
natural than the one recommended by Gronovius, Ouwens, &c, 
and advocated, also, by Hand (ad Stat., Silv., p. 59), namely : " Spare 
his not inglorious age." 

97-102. Laborem ingratum trahit. Consult Heyne, ad loc. — 
Proelia. Compare JEn., xi, 736. — Quondam. " At times." — Incas- 
sum. " Impotently." — Animos oevumque. " Their spirit and age." 
Aristotle says, that the best age of a horse is from three years old 
to twenty. Varro says it should not be younger than three, nor 
older than ten. — Hinc alias artes, &c. " And then their other qual- 
ities, and the (other) offspring of their parents," i. e., and what 
description of colts may have proceeded from the same sire. Some 
commentators understand the words prolem parcntum in a different 
sense, as equivalent to "prolem quam procrcant" or " pullos, quorum 
parentes jam fasti sunt." But this, though sanctioned by great 
names, is decidedly inferior. — Et quis cuique dolor, &c. " And what 
degree of dejection there is to each on being conquered, what glo- 
rying from victory," i. e., and how they bear defeat or victory. 

103-112. Campum corripuere. "They hasten over the plain." 
The aorist here implies what is accustomed to be done, and is there- 
fore rendered as a present. (Compare ttn., v., 145, where this is 
repeated.) — Carcere. " From the barrier," i. e., the starting-place. 
(Consult note on Georg., i., 512.) — Exsultantiaque haurit, &c. " And 
agitating excitement causes their throbbing hearts to heave." 
Haurit beautifully describes their heavy breathing, exhausting, as it 
were, the air from their lungs. — Favor. In its primitive and genu- 
ine meaning, this term indicates a palpitation common either to 
fear or joy, or any violent emotion. (Crombie, Gymnas., vol. i., 
p. 220.)— Verbere torto. " With the twisted lash."— Proni. " Bend- 
ing forward." — Vi. To be joined in construction with volat. Wake- 
field, however (ad Lucret., v., 434), connects it with fervidus. — Ful- 
va nimbus arena. " A storm-cloud of yellow dust." Imitated from 
Homer : vtto 6e arepvotat kovCtj 'Icrar' aeipofiev7] uare ve<f>oc tje -&ve/./.a. 
(II., xxiii., 365.) — Spumis jlatuque. "With the foam and the 
breath." 

113-117. Erichthonius. King of Attica, and, according to one 
account, the son of Vulcan and Atthis, the daughter of Cranaus. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGrCS. BOOK III. 355 

Fable made the lower part of his body to have terminated in a 
snake. He is said to have been the first that used the four-horsed 
chariot. — Rapidusque rotis insistere, &c. " And to stand victorious 
upon the rapid wheels ;" more freely, " and to tread victorious 
the rapid car." — Fclethronii Lapithce. The Lapithae are called " Pe- 
lethronian," either from Mount Pelethronium, in Thessaly, a branch 
of Pelion, near which they dwelt ; or from Pelethronium, a city of 
Thessaly, where the art of breaking horses was invented (Scrv., ad 
loc.) ; or from Pelethronius, one of the Lapithae who invented bridles 
and housings for steeds. (Plin., H. N., vii., 56, 57. — Hygin., Fab., 
274.) — Gyrosque. "And the wheelings of steeds," i. e., the art of 
riding round in a circling course, and thus, by dint of frequent 
wheelings, rendering the horse perfectly obedient to the rein. — 
Dedere. " Invented " 

Insultare solo. " To spurn the ground," i. e., to bound prancing 
along. — Et gressus glomerare superbos. " And move proudly onward 
at a full, round pace." We have given here the explanation of 
Valpy. Compare that of Lemaire : "Gressus glomerare, i. e., 
colligere reductis et in arcum replicatis cruribus anterioribus, dum poste- 
riora tenduntur." 

118-122. JSquus uterque labor. The meaning commonly, and we 
conceive correctly, assigned to these words is this, that, whether 
the horse be broken to the saddle or to draw, the labour is alike. 
For a different explanation, however, consult Heyne, ad loc. — 
JEque. "With equal care." — Juvenemque. "A horse young in 
years." Supply equum. — Magistri. " They who have the care of 
steeds." For some remarks on the magistri of flocks and herds, 
consult note on verse 549. — Calidumque animis. "And ardent in 
spirit," i. e, full of mettle.— Acrem. "Eager." — Quamvis. The 
connexion in the train of ideas is as follows : these qualities are all 
important, and, if a steed do not possess them, he is accounted of 
no value, although he may often have put to flight the foe, &c. 

Et patriam Epirum referat. " And may tell of Epirus as his na- 
tive country," i. e., may boast of being from the country of Epirus. 
The horses of Epirus were in high repute.— -Fortcsque Mycenas. 
The steeds of Mycenae, and, indeed, of all Argolis, enjoyed a high 
character. (Compare note on verse 44.) — Neptunique ipsa, &c. 
" And may deduce his pedigree from the very original of Neptune," 
i. e., from Neptune himself, as its original source. The allusion is 
to the legend of Neptune and Ceres. In order to avoid him, the 
goddess changed herself into a mare, whereupon the god also as- 
sumed the equine form, and the famous steed Arion was produced. 



356 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK III. 

123-129. His animadversisi &c. What here follows has refer- 
ence, according to the best commentators, to the bull as well as 
the horse. — Instant sub tempus. " They are yery diligent about the 
time (of generation)." — Denso pingui. " With firm fat." Observe 
that pingui is here put for pinguedine.—Pubentesque herbas. " Full- 
grown herbs," i. e., herbs covered with the down of maturity, and 
full of juices. Many editors read florentes, on MSS. authority ; in 
defence of which lection, consult the remarks of Wagner. — Fluvi- 
osque ministrant. " And supply him with plenty of water." — Far- 
raque. Consult note on Georg., i., 73. — Superesse. "To prove 
adequate to." — Invalidique patrum, &c. "And lest the puny off- 
spring plainly declare the feebleness of their sires." Jejunia prop- 
erly refers here to feebleness resulting from want of sufficient feed- 
ing. — Ipsa autem made, &c. " On the other hand, they purposely 
attenuate the females, by means of a scanty diet." Observe that 
armenta here refers to both the mares and cows, and compare note 
on verse 63. 

132-137. Quatiunt. "They shake them," i. e., work them hard. 
— Sole. " In the sun." — Tunsis fru gibus. " With the threshed 
grain." The beginning of the Roman harvest was about the latter 
end of their June, and the threshing time will fall in the month of 
July. — Palecz jactantur inanes. " The empty chaff is tossed to and 
fro." 

138-142. Rursus cura patrum cadere, &c. After conception, the 
whole care is to be transferred to the female. The asilus, a terri- 
ble plague to the cows in Italy, is then mentioned by the poet. — 
Cura patrum. " The care (hitherto) bestowed on the sires." — Rur- 
sus succedere. "In its turn to succeed." — Saltu, superare viam. 
" To clear the path with a leap." We have here a caution against 
allowing the pregnant animals to leap. — Et acri carpcre, &c. " And 
to gallop over the meadows ;" more literally, " and to traverse the 
meadows in rapid flight." — Saltibus in vacuis pascunt. "Their 
keepers feed them (at such times) in lonely and quiet pastures." 
Compare, as regards the force of vacuis here, the explanation of 
Heyne : " Saltus vacui, in quibus sola, quieta., otiosce pascantur." 
We have preferred, therefore, to render it by a double epithet. — 
Pascunt. In the sense of pascere solent, and referring to the armen- 
tarii, or keepers of the herd. The common text has pascant, which 
is objectionable on the score of Latinity, whether it be taken in an 
intransitive sense, or be referred, as Voss maintains, to the keep- 
ers. (Consult Wagner, ad loc, and Wakefield, ad Lucrct., ii , 995.) 

146-148. Est lucos Silari circa, &c. "About the groves of the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK UK 357 

Silarus, and (Mount) Alburnus blooming with holm oaks, there is 
In very great abundance a flying insect, the Roman name of which 
is asilus, (while) the Greeks have turned it (into their language) by 
calling it oestrus."— Silari. The Silarus was a river of Lucania, in 
Italy, dividing that province from Campania. The modern name is 
the Silaro. Its banks were greatly infested by the gad-fly. — Albur- 
num. Alburnus was a ridge of mountains in Lucania, near the junc- 
tion of the Silarus and Tanager. — Volitans. More literally, " a fly- 
ing thing." Taken here as a kind of substantive. — asilo. Observe 
that asilo is here in the dative, in imitation of the Greek idiom, in- 
stead of the nominative. The asilus is called by Yarro the taba- 
nus. It appears to be identical with the modern Breeze. This wing- 
ed insect still retains in Italy the name of Asillo, and occasions in- 
tolerable pain to the cattle, by perforating their hides with its sting, 
and depositing in the wound an egg, which is there hatched. (Mar- 
tyn, ad loc.) — (Estrum. The Greeks called it olo-rpoc, in the accu- 
sative olarpov, whence, in Latin, oestrus and ozstrum. 

149-151. Asper. "Wrathful," i. e., of angry sting. What the 
poet ascribes, in popular language, to the angry feelings of the in- 
sect, is, in fact, an instinct of nature, which prompts it to this mode 
of depositing its ova. The sting is composed of a tube, through 
which the egg is emitted, and of two " augers," which make way 
for the tube to penetrate into the skin of the cattle. These augers 
are armed with little knives, which prick with their points, and cut 
with their edges, causing intolerable pain to the animal that is 
wounded by them. At the end of the sting, moreover, as at the 
end of that of wasps, bees, and hornets, there exudes a venomous 
liquor, which irritates and inflames the fibres of the wounded nerves, 
and causes the wound to become fistulous. This fistula seems to 
be kept open by the egg, after the manner of an issue. The egg is 
hatched within the fistula, and the worm continues there till it is 
ready to turn to a chrysalis, receiving its nourishment from the 
liquid that flows from the wounded fibres. These worms remain 
nine or ten months under the skin, and then, being arrived almost 
to maturity, they come out of their own accord, and creep into 
some hole, or under some stone, and there enter into the state of a 
chrysalis, in which condition they lie quiet for some time, and at 
last come forth in the form of the parent fly. {Martyn, ad loc.) 

Accrba sonans. " Making a sharp, whizzing noise ;" more literally, 
■ sounding sharply." Accrba, for acerbe. The insect has two mem- 
branaceous wings, with which it makes a sharp whizzing. — Diffu- 
giunt armenta. Homer represents the suitors when fighting with 



358 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

Ulysses, dispersed on the raising of Minerva's aegis, as cattle are on 
hearing the gad-fly. (Od., xxii., 300.) — Furit mugitibus cether. Po- 
etic, for furit mugilus per cetherem. — Sicciripa Tanagri. " The bank 
of the dry Tanagrus." The Tanagrus, or Tanager, was a river of 
Lucania, rising in the central chain of the Apennines, and emptying 
into the Silarus. It is now the Negro. The epithet sicci marks the 
period of the midsummer heats, when the waters are low in the 
river, and afford no protection to the cattle, the gad-fly not attack- 
ing them when in the water. 

152-156. Hoc monstro. " By means of this monster." Alluding 
to the legend of Io, daughter of Inachus, whom Jupiter, in order to 
conceal her from the jealousy of his spouse, changed into a heifer. 
Juno, however, discovering the deceit, sent a gad-fly to torment 
her. — Exercuit. "Wreaked." — Inachiapestemmcditala,&LC. "Hav- 
ing meditated a cruel plague against the Inachian heifer," i. e., 
against the transformed Io, the daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. 
— M edits fervoribus. " In the noonday heat." — Gravido pecori. More 
elegant than a gravido pecore. — Duccntibus. For adducentibus. 

157-161. Vitulos. The poet begins with the calves. The young 
horses are mentioned at verse 179. (Compare note on verse 123.) 
— Continuo. " In the first place." — Notas. " Marks," i. e., showing 
their several destinations. — Gentis. " Of their breed." — Et quos 
aut pecori, &c. " And (distinguish in this way those) which they 
may prefer to employ for the having of cattle," i. e., for the increase 
of the herd. With et supply signant, from what is implied in notas 
inurunl. Hence the construction is, et signant eos, quos, &c. — Sub- 
mitterc. Consult Heyne's note on verse 73. — Scindere. " For cleav- 
ing." The prose form of expression would be ad scindendum. — Hor- 
rentem. " Rugged." An epithet properly of a new and unbroken field. 

162-165. Pascantur. We have adopted this form with Voss, on 
the authority of two MSS. The common text has pascuntur, which 
is far inferior, since the precepts commence here, and cetera refers 
to the following line, all the calves being meant by it with the ex- 
ception of those destined for the yoke. — Ad studium, atque usum 
agrcstem. " For the design and use of agriculture." — Jam vitulos 
hortare. " Teach while they are yet but calves," i. e., accustom to 
labour even while young. — Viamque insiste domandi. "And enter 
on the path of breaking them," i. e., and proceed in the due manner 
of breaking them. — Faciles. " Tractable." — Mobilis. " Governa- 
ble," i. e., easy to be moved or influenced. 

166-169. Laxos circlos. " Loose collars." — Jpsis e torquibus, &c. 
" Join together bullocks of equal strength, fastened to one another 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 359 

by the very collars, and make them step together." This particu- 
lar instruction, of fastening the bullocks by the collars, may seem 
superfluous to those who are not informed, that it was customary, 
also, among the ancients to yoke the bullocks together by the 
horns. This is mentioned by Columella as being in use in his 
days in some of the provinces, though he says it was justly con- 
demned by most writers on agriculture. — Aptos. Used here in its 
earlier signification. The obsolete apere, whence it comes, is ety- 
mologically connected with anno, necto. Compare the remark of 
Festus : " Comprehendere antiqui vinculo apere dicebant ; unde aptus 
is, qui convenienter alicui junctus est." (Doderlein, Lat. Syn., iii., 274.) 

170-178. Rota inanes. " Empty wagons." — Summo vestigia, &c. 
These wo v ds are employed for the purpose of denoting the light- 
ness of the carriage, which the young bullocks are first put to draw. 
The weight is to be so inconsiderable, that it will not cause them 
to make deep impressions in the dust. — Nitens. "Labouring." 
After they have been tried with empty vehicles, they are to be put 
to draw such as are heavy.— Terno areus. " The brass-bound pole ;" 
more correctly, "bronze-bound." — Pubi indomitce. "For the un- 
tamed bullocks." — Vescas. " Slender." Philargyrius explains it 
by *• teneras et exiles.'''' — Ulvamque palustrem. " And marshy sedge." 
(Martyn, ad loc.) — Frumenta sata. " Corn in the blade." Equiva- 
lent to herbas novella segetis. (Compare Varro, R. R., ii., 5, 17.) 

Fozta. " Which have calved." — More patrum. They who lived 
in the earlier ages subsisted much upon milk, and therefore defraud- 
ed their calves of great part of their natural nourishment. This 
practice Virgil condemns, and advises those who breed calves to 
let them suck their fill. Compare Varro, R. R., ii., 2, 17 ; Colum., 
vii., 4, 3; and the Geoponica, xviii., 3, where a similar rule is laid 
down. — Consument ubera tola. "Will expend the entire contents 
of their udders." 

179-186. Sin magis studium. " But if inclination prompt you rath- 
er." — Turmasque. " And troops of horse." Each turma consisted 
of thirty men, and was divided into three decuria. — Alphca fiumina 
Pisa. "The Alphean streams of Pisa." The Alpheus flowed by 
the city of Pisa, and the Olympic games were celebrated on its 
banks. — Jovis in luco. Alluding to the sacred grove Altis, at Olym- 
pia, planted, as legends tell, by Hercules, and which he dedicated 
to Jupiter. In a part of this grove was the race-course. — Primus 
cqui labor. "The first labour of the steed," i. e., the first thing to 
be learned by the steed. — Animos. "The fierceness." — Lituosque. 
The lituus, or "clarion," was peculiar to cavalry ; the tuba, to infan- 



360 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

try. The tuba was straight ; the lituus was slightly curved at the 
extremity, as in the following wood-cut from Fabretti • 




Tractugue gemcntcm, &c. "And to bear with the wheel that rat- 
tles as it is dragged along." — Et stabulo frenos, &c. Varro, also, 
says that colts should be accustomed to the sight of bridles hang- 
ing in their stalls, and also to the sound of them when rattled. — 
Blandis laudibus. " The coaxing praises." — Plausa cervicis. " Of 
his patted neck." 

187-189. Atque h<zc jam primo, &c. " And these things let him 
venture to do, when now first weaned," &c, i. e., as soon as 
weaned. Observe here the peculiar force of jam primo, equivalent, 
in fact, to statim ac. — Audeat. We have given this reading with 
Heyne and Voss. The common text has audiat. — Inque vicem de-t 
mollibus, &c. " And let him yield his mouth by turns to the soft 
halter," i. e., and let him change about, and become accustomed, 
also, to the halter. — Inscius avi. " Not confident in his strength." 
When the horse has attained the age which imparts vigour, he may 
be termed conscius atalis : before he has attained that age, he is 
inscius atatis or avi, not confident in his strength. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

190-195. At, tribus exactis, &c. Varro says, some would break 
a horse at a year and a half old, but he thinks it better to wait till 
he is three years of age. Columella makes a distinction between 
those which are reared for domestic labour and those which are bred 
for races. He says the former should be tamed at two years, and 
the latter not till they are past three. — Carpere mox gyrum incipiat. 
" Let him straightway begin to wheel in circular course." Com- 
pare note on verse 115. — Gradibusque sonare compositis. "And to 
advance to the sound of measured steps," i. e., with sounding hoofs 
and regular steps ; literally, " to sound forth with regulated steps." 
— Sinucique alterna volumina crurum. " And let him arch the alter- 
nate flexures of his legs," i. e., let him bend his legs alternately in 
trotting, or, in other words, let him trot. When a horse trots he 
makes semicircles with his legs, first on one side of the body, and 
then on the other, so that the hind and fore feet on the same side 
occasionally touch. To this Virgil here alludes ; and that he is here 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 361 

talking of the trot, is farther obvious from his allusion to the gallop, 
which immediately follows, namely, turn cursibus auras, &c. The 
Greek word for "to trot" is diarpoxdZeiv, "to make two wheels." 
(Donaldson, New Cratylus, p. 225.) 

193-201. Turn cursibus auras, &c. "Then, then let him chal- 
lenge the winds in swiftness," i. e., then let him learn to gallop. 
Observe the force imparted to the clause by the repetition of turn. 
The common text has Provocet for Turn vocet, but vocet of itself has 
the meaning here of provocet. — Per aperta cequora. " Over the open 
plains." — Hyperboreis. Used here merely in the sense of Borealibus, 
" Northern." The Hyperborean regions, strictly speaking, are 
those " beyond the northern wind," and which were fabled, there- 
fore, to enjoy always a mild climate. Here, however, the poet is 
speaking of a wind-storm from the north, comparing with the rapid 
march of this the fleetness of the young steed. — Dcnsus. " Exert- 
ing all its energies." Compare the explanation of Heyne : "qui 
magna cumvi et impetu late fcrtur." — Scythiceque hiemis, &c. "And 
scatters before it the storms of Scythia and the rainless elouds." 
The poet here describes a violent storm of wind from northern re- 
gions, driving before it and breaking up the wintry clouds, but un- 
accompanied by rain. 

Campique natantes. " And the waving fields of corn." A beau- 
tiful image, the undulating motion of the ears of corn being com- 
pared to the waves of the sea. — Horrescunt lenibus flabris. The ex- 
pression " lenibus flabris" 'appears to be somewhat inconsistent with 
the idea of a powerful blast. Heyne seeks to explain it by the re- 
mark that on the surface of the ground the blast would be less vio- 
lent. Wagner ingeniously refers it to the whispering sound emitted 
by the waving grain, whereas the lofty tree tops send forth a louder 
noise. (Quast. Virg., xxxv., 3.) — Longique urguent, &c. "And 
the waves come pressing on from afar to the shores." Observe here 
the peculiar force of longi, equivalent to " qui e longinquo veniunt." 
— Ilk. Referring to the wind. — Fugd. "In its rapid course." 

202-204. Hie. "Such a steed as this." — Ad Elei metas, &c. 
" Will either sweat at the goals and the long courses of the Elean 
plain," i. e., will either take part with spirit in the Olympic contests. 
These games, celebrated in Elis, on the banks of the Alpheus, are 
here put for games generally. — Metas. Consult note on Georg., i., 
v. 510-14. — Spatia. Consult note on Georg., ii., verse 541. — 
Belgica vel molli, &c. " Or will, better (than any other), bear the 
Belgic war-car with obedient neck," i. e., he is such a steed as the 
Belgae would employ to drag the war-chariot. There is no refer- 
H 



362 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS BOOK III. 

ence here to Roman customs. The Romans, it is true, adopted the 
Gallic essedum, but this was done for convenience and luxury, not 
for war. The essedum is here called " Belgic ;" it was used, how- 
ever, by the Gauls generally, and also by the Britons and the Ger- 
mans. — Molli. Equivalent here to domito. 

205-208. Crassd farragine. " With the fattening mixed proven- 
der." By farrago was meant a mixed provender of wheat, bran, 
and barley-meal. The epithet crassd is explained by Heyne, whom 
we have followed, as equivalent to " quae crassos reddit." — Jam dom- 
itis. " When they are now broken in." — Ante domandum. " Be- 
fore breaking them in," i. e., if you give them this mixed provender 
before they are broken. The gerund is supposed by some to be 
taken here in a passive sense, but without any necessity. — Lupaiis. 
Lupatum was the name applied to a species of curb, or bit, which 
had unequal iron teeth, like those of wolves. When the horse was 
unruly, they taught it submission by the use of such a bit. The 
poet, therefore, means to depict a very headstrong steed, which could 
not be governed even by means such as these. 

210-223. Cceci amoris. Compare, as regards cceci, the explana- 
tion of Heyne : " non, oculis capti, sed occulti, clam per venas et ossa 
sGevientis." — Opposiium. Compare the remark of Burmann : " op- 
positum, quia impedit conspectum vaccarum.''' — Satura ad prcesepia. 
"At the full stalls," i. e., the satisfying stalls. — Videndo. " By their 
beholding her." Another imaginary instance of the gerund used 
ill a passive sense.— Dulcibus ilia quidem, &c. " She indeed, too, 
by her sweet allurements, often drives," &c. There must be no 
comma after illeccbris, since the words all form a continuous clause. 
— Pascitur in magna silvd. "There feeds, (for example), in some 
extensive forest," &c. We have retained the common reading 
silvd, for which Brunck, Voss, Heyne, Jahn, and Wagner give Sild, 
against the express authority of all the MSS., and relying merely on 
a remark of Servius, who states that some read Sild for silvd. By 
/Sild is meant a forest of vast extent, in the country of the Bruttii, 
to the south of Consentia. It is more than probable, however, that 
the whole line is spurious. The similarity of termination that pre- 
vails throughout gives it a very awkward sound, and, besides this, 
it comes in quite unnecessarily, since the leading idea has already 
been implied. In Mn., xii., 715, however, the case is quite differ- 
ent, on account of the presence of taburno in the line. — Alternantes. 
Compare the version of Voss : " Wunde mit Wund' abwechselnd." — 
In obnixos. "Against one another fiercely struggling." — Longus 
Olympus. " The distant heavens." 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 363 

224-228. Una stabulare. " To dwell together in the same stall." 
Observe here the employment of stabulare in an intransitive sense, 
for the more usual stabulari, the deponent verb. During the win- 
ter season the ancient husbandmen kept their cattle in covered 
stalls, but during the summer in uncovered ones : the latter are 
here meant. — Multa gemcns. " Groaning much and often." The 
plural multa carries with it the idea of repetition, which would not 
have been the case if the singular multum had been used. (Con- 
sult Kritz, ad Sail. Cat., xxvii.,4. — Bremi, ad Ncp. Epam., vi., 1.) — 
Adspectans. " Often gazing at," i. e , often turning to gaze at. Ob- 
serve the force of the frequentative, implying that the animal keeps 
turning again and again to look at his former abode, as he slowly 
retires — Excessit. " He has left at last." This beautiful use of 
the perfect is in good keeping with the idea implied in adspectans. 

229-231. Et inter dura jacet pernix, &c. " And obstinately lies 
amid the hard stones, on an unspread couch," i. e., on the bare ground. 
Instrato is here equivalent to non strato, and instrato cubili is the same, 
in fact, as nudo solo. — Pernix. The greater number of, and the best 
MSS., and nearly all the early editions, read pernix, which has been 
adopted in consequence by Voss, Jahn, and others. The old gran> 
marians, too, recognise it, and derive it from pernitor (pernixus or 
pernisus), giving it the force of per sever ans. (Serv., ad loc.) The 
common reading is pernox. (Consult Wagner, ad loc., and also 
Dddcrlein, hat. Syn., vol. ii., p. 126.) — Frondibus hirsutis, &c. The 
poorest kind of nourishment is here denoted, which the animal con- 
sumes without exerting himself to procure better. — Carice acuta. 
" Sharp rushes." The carex appears to be the same with the 
common hard rush. The soft rush was called juncus. (Martyn, 
ad loc.) 

232-234. Et tentat sese, &c. " And makes frequent trial of his 
strength, and, pushing against the trunk of some tree, learns to 
collect his wrath into his horns." — Irasci in cornua. We have 
given here the explanation of Voss, which is approved of by Wag- 
ner. For a different view of the phrase in question, consult Don- 
aldson (New Crat., p. 217), who thinks it explicable from the idea 
of " looking towards." Compare, also, Elmsley, ad Eurip., Bacch., 
742, and the passages there cited in relation to the Greek form of 
expression, elc nepac, which Virgil appears to have copied here. — 
Ventosque lacessit ictibus. "And dares the winds with many a 
blow." Lemaire thinks, that the poet means here to express the 
same idea that is contained in the gladiatorial term ventilare, 
namely, to make a flourish of arms before entering on the actual 



364 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

contest. — Sparsd arena. Referring to the habit of the animal of 
throwing up the sand with its feet before engaging. 

236-241. Signa movet. "It begins the march." A military 
phrase. When the army took up its line of march, it was said to 
move forward the standards — Longius. " Afar." We have placed 
a comma after this word, with Voss, thus connecting it with what 
precedes, and making it an imitation of the Homeric or Epic idiom. 
— Ex altoque sinum trahit. u And draws its hollow bosom from the 
deep." A beautifully accurate description of a surge swelling up- 
ward. — Subjectat. " Raises up." 

242-249. Adeo. "Indeed." — Mquoreum. " Inhabiting the ocean 
plains." — PictcB. "Of painted plumage." — In f arias ignemque. 
" Into maddening fires." Observe the hendiadys. — Idem. " Has 
the same power." Supply est. — Informes. "Unshapely." — Scevus 
aper. Compare note on verse 255. — Libya. Africa was regarded 
by the ancients as abounding in the fiercest wild beasts, the heat 
of the climate increasing their savage nature. 

250-257. Perlentet. "Thrills through."— Si tantum notas, &c. 
The prose form of expression would be, si tantum aura noturn attul- 
erunt odorem.—Jam. " Any longer now." — Monies. " Immense 
stones," i. e., fragments of mountain rocks. Schrader rashly con- 
jectures pontes, which Wakefield as rashly receives into the text. 
— Sabellicus sus. "The Sabine boar," i. e., the boar from the Sa- 
bine mountains. Servius says, that Virgil here means the tame boar, 
having already spoken of the wild one in verse 248, and that he 
wishes to show, that, on occasions such as those alluded to in the 
text, even domestic animals may be roused to fury. Wagner, on 
the other hand, maintains that Virgil here nods. (Quasi. Virg., 
xxxx., 2.) Voss agrees, in effect, with Servius, and supposes that 
a boar from a forest-herd is meant, as distinguished from a wild 
one. 

Prosubigit. " Tears up." Compare Servius : "fodit et pedibus 
impellit allernis." — Humeros. The common text has humcrosque, 
which Heyne, among others, adopts. It is rejected, however, by 
Wagner and others. (Quast. Virg., xxxv., 23.) — Durat. For in- 
durat. 

258-265. Quid juvcnis, &c. Supply facit. Lest it should be ob- 
jected that these are merely animals, not governed by reason, the 
poet now refers to the effect of this same passion upon man ; and 
he instances the case of Leander. ( Valpy, ad loc.) — Nempe. " Why, 
to be sure." — Abruptis procellis. " By bursting storms." — Freta. 
Alluding to the Hellespont. — Ingens porta cali. " The vast portal 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 365 

of the sky." Poetic, for caelum ipsum. — Reclamant. " Resound." — 
Nee moritura super, &c. " Nor the maiden, too, about to perish by 
a cruel death." Observe here the force of super, " too," '* besides." 
Voss construes it with crudeli funere, but incorrectly. (Compare 
JEn ., iv., 308.)— Virgo. Alluding to Hero, the loved one of Lean- 
der, who, in despair at his death, threw herself down from her 
tower, and perished in the sea. 

Lynces varice Bacchi. "The spotted ounces of Bacchus." The 
ounce, the tiger, and the leopard are said to have been the animals 
by which the chariot of Bacchus was drawn on his triumphal return 
from India. (Consult note on Eclog., viii., 3.) — Quid, qua imbelles, 
&c. " Why tell what conflicts the un warlike stags wage (at times 
such as these)," i. e., when under this influence. 

266-268. Scilicet ante omnes, &c. "The fury of the mares, indeed, 
is conspicuous above that of all (other animals)." Observe here 
the force of scilicet. Why mention other instances, when the most 
remarkable of all, indeed, is that of the mares. — Mentem. " That 
same madness." — Quo tempore Glauci, &c. "What time his Pot- 
nian mares tore Glaucus limb from limb with their jaws." Alluding 
to the legend of Glaucus, son of Sisyphus, and a native of Potniae, 
in Boeotia, to the southwest of Thebes. He was torn in pieces by 
the four mares that drew his chariot. — Quadriga. Equivalent here 
to eau<z, with a reference, at the same time, to number. 

269-273. Gargara. Consult note on Georg., i., 102. — Ascanium. 
Ascanius is properly the name of a lake in the western part of Bi- 
thynia, near the head waters of the Sinus Cianus. Here, however, 
a river of the same name, and issuing from it, is supposed to be 
meant. Of such a river mention appears to have been made by the 
poet Euphorion, from whom Virgil is thought to have copied on this 
occasion. (Compare Strab., xiv., p. 999, C.) — Flumina tranant. 
Imitated from Lucretius (i., 15) — Continuoque. "And straight- 
way." — Ore omnes versa, &c. Consult Marty n's note on the whole 
of this subject. 

278-286. In Borean Caurumque. " (But) towards the north and 
the northwest." Compare Aristotle, Hist. An., vi., 18 : deovci 6s 
ovte npoc ecj, ovre Trpbc dvafiuc, u?iXa repbe apurov rj vorov. — Pluvio 
f rigor e. Compare Georg., iv., 26l.—Frigidus Auster. In the Vat- 
ican MS. sidere appears for /rigor e, of which Heinsius and Burmann 
do not disapprove ; but sidere certainly appears out of place, when 
the allusion is merely to the effects of the southern blast. — Hippo- 
manes. Consult Martyn, ad loc, and Bayle, Diet., vol. x., p. 356, 
Eng. ed. — Miscueruntque herbas, &c. "And have mingled herbs 
Hh2 



366 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

therewith, and not innoxious charms." Alluding to filters and in- 
cantations, for the purpose of exciting an impure passion in the 
breasts of others. Heyne instances the case of Phaedra and Hip- 
polytus, which, however, is hardly in point. (Consult, as regards 
the line itself, the note on Georg., ii , 128.) 

Singula dum capti,, &c. " While enamoured (of our theme), we 
are borne around (and examine minutely into) each particular (con- 
nected with it)." Compare the explanation of Heyne : "Dum om- 
nia hcec de armentorum curd sigillatim pertractamus, singula perlustra- 
mus, capti harum rerum studio." 

286-288. Hoc satis armentis. The poet now proceeds to treat of 
sheep and goats. He states, how well aware he is of the difficulty 
of managing properly in verse so humble and undignified a theme ; 
still, such is his ardour in the cause of poesy, that he is willing to 
encounter the risk of failure, being animated, besides, by the con- 
sciousness that he is the first Roman bard that has attempted to 
clothe such a subject in verse. — Agitare. "To manage;" t. e., to 
treat of the management of. — Hinc laudem, &c. " Hence hope for 
praise, ye active husbandmen ;" i. e., for such praise as a prudent and 
attentive master of a farm ought to aspire to. — Fortes. Not mere- 
ly ornamental here, as Heyne maintains, but equivalent, rather, to 
strenui, or laboriosi. 

289-293. Nee sum animi dubius. " Nor am I at all ignorant ;" 
literally, " doubtful in mind." — Verbis ea vincere. " To master these 
things in (poetic) language," i. e., to express them in language that 
may comport with the true dignity of verse. — Angustis rebus. " To 
lowly subjects." — Parnassi deserta per ardua. " Along the lonely 
heights of Parnassus." Virgil here speaks of himself as pursuing 
a course untravelled by any Roman poet before him, and therefore 
to a Roman a lonely and an arduous one. — Juvat ire jugis, &c. 
" It delights me to roam over the mountain tops, where no beaten 
track of earlier bards turns away by a gentle descent to Castalia," 
i. e., where all is wild and lonely, and no path, travelled by earlier 
bards, leads gently downward to the fountain of Castalia. The poet, 
acknowledging the difficulty of his subject, expresses, at the same 
time, his delight in handling it. It is one that will lead him along 
the rugged heights of Parnassus, far away from the paths of other 
bards, and far away, too. from the Castalian fount, the source of 
poetic inspiration, the descent to which will be for him a new and 
a difficult one ; that is, it will cost him much time and labour to 
adapt so novel a theme as the present one to the requirements of 
song, and draw from it poetic inspiration. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 367 

Castaliam. The Castalian fount, on Parnassus, was sacred to 
the Muses, and to poetic inspiration. Above the city of Delphi 
were two lofty rocks called Phaedriades. Between these rocks the 
Castalian spring flowed from the upper part of the mountain, and 
the water was in ancient times introduced into a hollow square, 
where it was retained for the use of the Pythia and the priests of 
the Oracle of Apollo. Virgil, it will be perceived, talks of descend- 
ing to this fount, his rugged theme having carried him away, in the 
first instance, among the higher and more rugged regions of the 
mountain. 

294-299. Pales. Consult note on verse 1. — Magnonunc ore, &c. 
" Now must I sound forth in elevated strain," i. e., now must I 
raise my strain. The allusion is to what has just been stated in 
verse 289, &c. He now resolves to clothe his humble theme, if 
possible, in elevated language. — Slabulis in mollibus, &c. " To feed 
in soft folds," i. e., to be foddered in soft sheepfolds. The stabula 
here meant are covered ones, for the winter. They were to be 
built facing the south, low, the length exceeding the breadth, and 
the ground strewed with plenty of straw, &c. {Columella, vii., 3. — 
Varro, ii., 2 — Geopon., xviii., 2.) — JEstas. The farmer must wait 
for the settled weather of summer, when the sheep can pasture 
securely in the open air. — Multd stipuld, &c. "With plenty of 
straw, and bundles of ferns." The agricultural writers are partic- 
ularly careful to give instructions about keeping the sheep clean 
and dry in their folds. Varro says, the pavement should be laid 
sloping, that it may easily be swept clean, because wet spoils the 
wool and breeds disorders among the sheep. He adds, that fresh 
litter should be often given them, that they may lie soft and clean. 
(Varro, I. c.) 

Molle pecus. Columella says, that sheep, though they are the best 
clothed of all animals, are nevertheless the most impatient of cold. 
(Colum., I. c.) — Scabiem. " The scab." Columella observes, that 
no animal is so subject to the scab as sheep. He adds, that it 
usually arises on their being injured by cold rain or frost; or after 
shearing, if they are not well washed, or if they are permitted to 
feed in woody places, where they are wounded with brambles and 
briars ; or if they are folded where mules, or horses, or asses have 
stabled ; or if they are lean for want of sufficient pasture, than 
which nothing sooner brings the scab. (Colum., vii., 5, 5 ) — Tur- 
pesque podagras. " And the offensive foot-rot." By podagra ap- 
pear to be here meant wbat Columella has described under the 
name of clavi. He says there are two sorts : one, when there is 



368 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

filth and galling in the parting of the hoof; the other, when there 
is a tubercle in the same place, with a hair in the middle and a 
worm under it. (Colum., vii., 2, 11.) 

300-304. Hinc digressus. " Having left these," i. e., leaving the 
sheep. — Frondentia arbuta. " Arbute leaves." These form a fa- 
vourite food for goats. Strictly speaking, arbutus is the arbute- 
tree, and arbutum is its fruit : here, however, as in many previous 
instances, the fruit is taken for the tree itself. (Consult, as regards 
the arbute, the note on Eclog., vii., 46.) — A vends. "Away from 
the winds." The cold northern blasts are especially meant. — Dum 
dim jam. " Until at length now." The common text has quum, 
for which we have given dum, with Voss, on the authority of one 
of the MSS. The sense clearly requires the change. The goats 
are to be foddered and protected, not when Aquarius sets, but du- 
ring the whole winter, until he sets. Aquarius rises about the 
middle of January, and sets about the middle of February, which 
would be near the close of the agricultural year, that commenced 
in the spring. This would also be near the end of the old Roman 
year, which began with March. — Irrorat. " Pour forth his waters." 
Alluding to the representation of Aquarius on the zodiac, as empty- 
ing a water-urn, as well as to the circumstance of its being a rainy 
sign. 

305-307. H<b quoque, &c. Goats are to be tended with no less 
care than sheep, and will be found to be of no less value. The ad- 
vantages arising from goats are then enumerated at verse 308, 
&c. — Quamvis Milesia magno, &c. " Although the fleeces of Mile- 
tus, on having been dyed with the crimson hues of Tyre, are ex- 
changed for a large sum," i. e., goats are no less valuable than 
sheep, even though the fleece of the latter command so high a 
price on being stained with the Tyrian dye. — Milesia. Miletus, the 
most celebrated of the Ionian cities, was situate on the southern 
shore of the bay into which the River Latmus emptied, and about 
eighty stadia south of the embouchure of the Maeander. It was 
famed for its fine fleeces, and its woollen cloths and carpets were 
especially esteemed. — Mutentur. There is no reference here to 
mere barter, but to actual purchase. Compare Columella, vii., 9 : 
" Lacteus porous <zre muiandus est.^ — Incocta rubores. A Hellenism 
for incocta ruboribus. 

308-313. Hinc. Referring to goats. The advantages connected 
with these animals now begin to be enumerated. — Largi copia lac- 
tis. The milk of the goat is excellent, and has been thought pecu- 
liarly serviceable for consumptive persons. — Lata magis pressis, 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 369 

&c. " So much the more will copious streams flow from their 
compressed udders." Supply tarn before magis. — Nee minus inte- 
rea, &c. " Nor less,, meanwhile, do the shepherds shear the beards 
and hoary chins, and the long waving hair of the Cinyphian goat." 
The Cinyps, or Cinyphus (Klvvxjj, Herod. ; Kiwyor, Ptol., Strab.), was 
a small river of Africa, below Tripolis, falling into the sea south- 
west of the promontory of Cephalae. The country around this 
stream was famous for a breed of long-haired goats, perhaps of the 
same species with the Angola goats of modern days. — Tondent. 
Supply pastores. 

Usum in castrorum, &c. The hair of goats was employed to 
make coverings for military engines against the fire-arrows of the 
foe, ropes of various kinds, cloaks for travellers, clothing for mar- 
iners, &c. 

314-321. Pascuntur silvas. Observe the Greek construction of 
the accusative, and compare Georg., iv., 181 : "pascuntur arbuta." 
The she-goats are specially referred to here, as appears from ipsa, 
in verse 316. — Lycai. Consult note on Eclog., x., 15. — Rubos. 
According to Martyn, the rvbus is the bramble, or blackberry bush. 
— Ipsa. "They, of their own accord," i. e., not driven as sheep 
are. — Suos. " Their kids." — Quo minus est Mis, &c. The sense of 
the whole passage appears to be this: that, as goats give us so lit- 
tle trouble, browsing upon any wild bushes, which sheep will not 
touch ; as they wander over the rocks and precipices, where other 
cattle cannot tread ; as they come home of their own accord, with- 
out requiring the care of a shepherd, we ought, in justice, to take 
care of them, and allow them a sufficient quantity of food in win- 
ter, and strive, at the same time, to shelter them against the cold. 
Lcetus. " Cheerfully." — Fanilia. " Your stores of hay ;" more 
literally, " your hay-lofts." The poet thus far speaks of winter 
treatment. He begins in the next verse to lay down rules for the 
management, of both sheep and goats during the warm season. 

322-326. Zephyris quum lata vocantibus, &c. " When the warm 
weather, rejoicing in the zephyrs that invite it, shall send each 
flock," &c, i. e., shall send both your sheep and your goats. — 
JEstas. Not the summer, but the warm weather generally, and in- 
cluding, of course, the mild springtide. The zephyrs, or western 
breezes, began to blow as early as February, and the warm weath- 
er set in about the rising of the Pleiades, or the middle of April. — 
Mittet. A far better reading than mittes, which would require a 
comma after astas, and an ellipsis of erit, or est, after lata. 

Luciferi primo cum sidcrc. " At the first rising of the morning 



370 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

star." The planet Venus, when it appears in the evening, is called 
Vesper, or Hesperus ; but when in the morning, Lucifer, or Phos- 
phorus. The latter of these two is from the Greek $uc<popoc, and 
means the same as Lucifer, namely, "the light-bringer." — Frigida 
ru.ro, carpamus. " Let us take to the cool fields." The common 
form of expression is carpere viam, carpere iter; here, however, the 
local substantive rura takes the place of the ordinary one, and car- 
pamus ntra, becomes the same as carpamus viam ad rura. (Heyne, 
ad loc. — Freund, Wdrterb., vol. i., p. 679, §4.) The explanation giv- 
en by Servius, and which some adopt, makes carpamus equivalent 
here to carpere cogamus animalia. This, however, is extremely 
harsh. — Canent. " Is hoary to the view." Alluding to the whitish 
or silvery appearance of the grass, as the drops of dew still rest 
upon it. 

327-330. Ubi quarta sitim, &c. " When the fourth hour of the 
sky shall have brought on thirst ;" literally, " shall have collected 
or accumulated thirst." The Romans did not reckon the day, ac- 
cording to our mode, from midnight to midnight, but from sunrise 
to sunset. Each day, whether long or short, was divided into 
twelve hours. At the equinox, therefore, the fourth hour would 
correspond to our ten in the morning ; but at the solstice it would 
be at half an hour after nine in Italy, where the day is then, accord- 
ing to Pliny, fifteen hours long. — Rumpent arbusta. " Shall rend 
the vine-clad trees." A figurative allusion to the loud and shrill 
note of the cicadas, an insect that begins its song as soon as the sun 
grows hot. (Consult note on Eclog., ii., 13.) — Arbusta. The vine 
grounds are meant. (Consult note on Eclog., v., 64.) — Ilignis ca- 
nalibus. u In oaken troughs." The construction is currentem ilig- 
nis canalibus. 

331-335. JEstibus mediis. "In the heat of noon." — Exquirere. 
Depending, like potare, on jubeto. — Jovis quercus. Compare Georg , 
ii., 16. — Antiquo robore. '« With aged strength." — Sacra accubct um- 
bra. " Lie near, with its sacred shade," i. c, stand near, and with 
bending branches, cast a deep shade over the ground. Observe the 
beautiful personification in accubet. — Turn tenuis dare rursus aquas, 
&c. " Then (order the keepers) to give them again the limpid wa- 
ter." Supply, before dare, the words jubeto custodes. This will 
save any necessity of regarding dare and pascere as infinitives put 
for imperatives, as Wunderlich maintains. 

337-338. Roscida luna. "The dewy moon," i. e., the dew that 
falls while the moon is shining. This was ascribed to the moon 
herself, as the producing cause. Other poets, however, ascribe the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 371 

dew to the influence of the stars. Thus we have, in the Pervigili- 
um Veneris, v. 20, " Humor Me quern serenis astra rorant noclibus" 
— Alcyonen. Consult note on Georg., i., 398. — Acalanthida. " With 
the goldfinch." The Acalanthis CAica2.avdtc) is the same with the 
Acanthis ('A/cavfli'c), a name which seems to be derived from a/cav- 
8a, " a prickle," because it lives among thorns, and eats the seeds 
of thistles. Hence, in Latin, it is called carduelis, from carduus, "a 
thistle," whence some call it the thistle finch, while others, from a 
beautiful yellow stripe across its wing, term it the goldfinch. (Mar- 
tyn, ad luc.) 

339-341. Quid tibi, &c. Having just mentioned the care of keep- 
ing sheep and goats within doors, the poet now takes occasion to di- 
gress into an account of the African shepherds, who wander with 
their flocks over the vast deserts of that country, without any set- 
tled habitation. — Et raris habitata, &c. " And the portable huts in- 
habited by them, with their roofs appearing here and there," i. e., and 
their portable huts, few and straggling. These were a kind of hut, 
or cabin, with a round top, which were conveyed to and fro on 
wheels, and accompanied the flocks. In the Mneid (i., 421, and 
iv., 259), the term employed to denote these structures is mdga.Ha, 
with the initial syllable long. Here, however, we have mapalia, 
with the first syllable short. Both words are Punic, and both, ac- 
cording to Servius, mean the same thing. (Ad Mn., iv., 259.) Ge- 
senius, however, considers mugalia to be the original term, and 
mapalia to have been formed from it by a species of corruption. 
(Phozn. Mon , p 392 ) The magalia, or mapalia, are commonly sup- 
posed to have been peculiar to the Numidians. It would seem, 
however, that they were employed by the nomadic tribes of Africa 
generally. 

342-348. Sine ullis hospitiis. " Without any fixed abode." Com- 
pare the explanation of Heyne : " Hospitia suaviter certa sedes ac 
domus, quo se recipiant." — Jacet. " Lies all around." — Tectumque. 
Alluding to the portable hut mentioned above. — Amyclaum. Amy- 
clae was a city of Laconia, the whole of which country was famed 
for its dogs. The term " Amyclaean," therefore, is here employed 
to designate merely a dog of excellent breed. — Cressamque phare- 
tram. By a " Cretan quiver" is here, of course, meant one excellent 
of its kind, as in the case of the "Amyclaean hound" just mention- 
ed. The Cretans were famed for their skill in archery. 

Injusto sub fasce. " Beneath an oppressive load." The weight 
of baggage, &c, borne by a Roman soldier on the march was sixty 
pounds, without including their armour. (Veget.,1, 19. — Cic., Tusc, 



372 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

ii., 16.) — Ante exspectatum. "Before he is expected." Compare 
Ovid, Met., iv., 790: "Ante expectatum tacuit tamen" and again 
(viii., 5), "Ante expectatum, portus tenuere petitcs." — Stat hosti. 
" Takes his station against the foe." 

349-351. At non, qua, &c. "Not so, however, where are the 
Scythian nations," &c. ; i. e., not, however, in this way are the 
flocks tended in Scythia, &c. The custom of the northern shep- 
herds, says the poet, is quite different from that of the African ones, 
in consequence of the total difference of climate. The full ex- 
pression would be, At non ita pascitur, itque pecus. — Mceotia unda. 
The Palus Maeotis, or Sea of Azof, is meant. — Ister. The ordinary 
text has Hister. (Consult note on Georg., ii., 497.) — Qudque redit me- 
dium, &c. "And where Rhodope returns, stretched out beneath 
the very pole." Observe here the force of redit. Rhodope was a 
mountain range of Thrace, forming, in a great degree, its western 
boundary. It then turns off to the east, and is there joined with the 
range of Haemus, and then again, parting from it, it returns to the 
northward. 

354-359. Aggeribus niveis informis. " Deformed with heaps of 
snow." — Septemque assurgit in ulnas. " And rises to seven ells," 
i. e., the snow covers the ground to the depth of seven ells. This 
is one of the instances cited by Wagner, where the finite verb with 
the copulative, in the second clause of a sentence, takes the place 
of a participle. Thus, septemque assurgit in ulnas is equivalent to 
septem. assurgens in ulnas, ( Wagner, Quast. Virg., xxxiiii., 3.) — Pal- 
lentes umbras. "The pale shades." Umbra, here refers to the 
clouds and nebulous matter with which the air is continually filled, 
and, at the same time, darkened. — Rubro aquore. " In the reddened 
surface of ocean," i. e., in the western ocean, reddened by his set- 
ting rays. 

360-366. Subitce crustce. " Sudden crusts," i. e., of ice. — Ferratos 
orbes. " Iron-shod wheels." Compare verse 173. — Patulis nunc 
hospita plaustns. The common text has the point after patulis, ma- 
king it agree with puppibus. We have adopted, however, the punc- 
tuation recommended by Burmann, according to which patulis be- 
comes an epithet of plaustris, and far more significant. — Mraque 
dissiliunt vulgo. " Bronze vessels burst asunder as a common oc- 
currence," i. e., it is a very common thing for bronze vessels, con- 
taining water, to burst from the intensity of the frost. 

Cceduntque securibus, &c. " And they cleave with axes the (at 
other times) fluid wine." This freezing of wine has by some been 
regarded as a mere poetic fiction. Ovid, however, who was ban- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 373 

ished to a rigorous climate, also mentions it (Trist., iii., 10, 23). In 
modern times, too, parallel instances are often cited. Captain 
Monck, a Dane, who wintered in Greenland in 1631 and 1632, re- 
lates that no wine or brandy -was strong enough to be proof against 
the cold, but froze to the bottom, and that the vessels split in pie- 
ces, so that they cut the frozen liquor with hatchets, and melted it 
at the fire. Maupertuis, who, with some other French academicians, 
in 1736, measured a degree of the meridian under the arctic circle, 
says that brandy was the only liquor that could be kept sufficiently 
fluid for them to drink. He mentions, also, that the spirit of wine 
froze in their thermometers. 

Et totce solidam, &c. " Entire pools, also, turn into solid ice." 
Lacuna means, properly, any hollow in the ground containing water. 
Some critics object to lacuna as a mere repetition after line 360, and 
Bothe accordingly conjectures lagcncz in place of it. But the poet 
is merely observing here a regular gradation. First, the rivers are 
bridged over, and then the large ponds and lakes become one mass 
of ice. Besides, it is rather difficult to conceive how the vessel it- 
self (lagena) can become solid ice, along with its contents !— Vertere. 
Used as an aorist, and equivalent here to vertere solent. Supply se. — 
Induruit. " Stiffens." For indurescere solet. 

367-370. Non secius ninguit. "It snows as severely ;" literally, 
" it snows not otherwise," i. e., the snow is in character, and is as 
heavy and incessant as the cold is severe. Compare the explana- 
tion of an anonymous critic in Seebode's Bibl. Crit., t. viii., vol. 
li., p. 1192 : "Non secius, i. e., quam savum frigus, tarn multce sunt 
nives." — Pruinis. For nivibus. — Nova. For insolita. Some, how- 
ever, regard it as equivalent to recens lapsa. (Seebod., Bib. Crit., I. 
c.) — Hos non immissis canibus, &c. " These they hunt, not by means 
of dogs set upon them, nor by means of any nets ; neither do they 
drive them onward stricken with the terrors of the crimson plu- 
mage." Observe the zeugma in agitant, this verb becoming equiv- 
alent to venantur when construed with canibus and cassibus, though, 
in fact, only one operation, after all, is meant. In hunting, it was 
usual to extend nets in a curved line of considerable length, so as 
in part to surround a space, into which the beasts of chase were 
driven through the opening left on one side. This range of nets 
was flanked by cords, to which feathers, dyed scarlet, and other 
bright colours, were tied, so as to flare and flutter in the wind. The 
hunters then sallied forth with their dogs, dislodged the animals 
from their coverts, and by shouts and barking drove them, first 
within the formido, as the apparatus of strings and feathers was call- 

Ii 



374 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

ed, and then, as they were scared with this appearance, within the 
circuit of the nets. (Compare Mn., iv., 121.) 

373-382. Oppositum montcm. " The opposing mass of snow." — 
Graviter rudentes. " Loudly braying." This term, here applied to 
stags, is also applied to lions (JEn., vii., 16), and to Cacus (Mn., 
viii., 284). — Ipsi in defossis specubus, &c. The mode of life pursued 
by the ancient Thracians and Sarmatae, and in part, also, by the Ger- 
mans, is here ascribed to the northern nations generally. Observe, 
moreover, the force of ipsi here. While all other things are locked 
up in the frozen embrace of winter, they themselves give loose to fes- 
tal joys. — Advolvere. For advolvhe solent. — Dedere. For dare solent. 

Ducunt. " They prolong." — Et pocula lali, &c. " And, joyous, 
imitate wine by means of fermented liquor and the acid services." 
By fcrmentum is meant, in particular, beer made from steeped and 
fermented grain. — Sorbis. From the juice of the service-tree an acid 
liquor was made, resembling cider. — Pocula vitea. Poetic for vi- 
num. — Hyperboreo. Consult note on line 196. — Septem subjecta tri- 
oni. Tmesis, for subjecta Septemtrioni. — Rhipczo tunditur Euro. 
"Are buffeted by the Rhipaean southeastern blast." The south- 
east is put here for any stormy blast, and the epithet " Rhipaean" is 
merely added to mark a cold and northern one. (Consult note on 
Georg., i., 240.) 

384-393. Si tibi lanitium cura, &c. The poet here gives direc- 
tions about taking care of the wool. He observes, that prickly 
places and rich pastures are to be avoided, and then gives direc- 
tions about the choice of the sheep, and particularly of the rams. — 
Aspera silva. " Prickly bushes." — Lappaque tribulique. Consult 
note on Georg., i., 153. — Pabula Iceta. Wool of sheep fed on poor 
pasture is still observed to be of finer staple than that of the same 
breed on rich pasture. (Valpy, ad loc.) — Continuoque greges, &c. 
" And from the very beginning choose flocks that are white with 
soft wool." The rules laid down in this verse, and in those that 
immediately follow, are in full accordance with the remarks of the 
ancient agricultural writers. Compare Geopon., xviii., 6. — Varro, R. 
R., ii., 2, 4. — Colum., vii., 2, 6. — Pallad., viii., 4, 2. — Ilium autem, 
quamvis, &c. " That ram, however, even though he be white all over, 
reject, unto whom," &c. With ilium supply arietem, so that, in trans- 
lating, aries, in the succeeding clause, becomes equivalent merely 
to ille. Observe, too, that ipse distinguishes the whole ram from a 
particular part, and is to be rendered accordingly. — Nigra subcst 
udo, &c. Aristotle (Hist. An., vi., 19) asserts, that the colour of 
the veins under the ram's tongue governs the colour of the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 375 

lamb's fleece. This Columella (vii., 3) and others repeat. (Mar- 
tyn, ad loc.) 

Munere niveo lante, &c. " Captivated by the snow-white allure- 
ment of a fleece," i. e., by the alluring appearance of a snow-white 
fleece, or of snowy wool. Macrobius (v. 22) has preserved a fable 
of Selene, or Luna, following Pan transformed into a white ram. 
Compare Philargyrius (ad loc). "Pan cum Luna amore Jlagraret, ut 
illi formosus viderelur, niveis velleribus se circumdedit." — Adspernata. 
Supply es. 

394-397. At, cut lactis amor, &c. This paragraph informs us, 
that those who feed sheep for the sake of their milk, must supply 
them with abundance of proper nourishment. — Cylisum. Consult 
note on Eclog., i., 79. — Lotos. "Water-lilies." 'The lotus here 
meant is the Lotus aquaticus, under which head the ancients compre- 
hended three Egyptian plants of the water-lily tribe. The lotus 
mentioned in the second book of the Georgics (v. 84) is quite differ- 
ent. — Salsas. " Sprinkled with salt." Compare Voss : " mit Salz 
bestreutes." — Hinc et amant fiuvios magis. " Hence they both love 
the rivers more," i. e., this both makes them fonder of drinking. — 
Tendunt. For distendunt. As early as the days of Aristotle, we 
find the opinion prevalent that drinking makes sheep fatten. (Arist., 
Hist. An., viii., 10.) — Et salis occultum, &c. "And they return in 
their milk a faint savour of the salt." 

398-400. Multi jam excretos, &c. " Many, moreover, separate and 
keep apart," i. e., separate, and carefully keep so. Observe that 
jam, as Heyne remarks, is equivalent here to porro. — Excretos. 
Not from excresco, as some maintain, but from excerno, and hence 
excretos prohibent is the same as excernunt et prohibent. — Primaque 
ferratis, &c. " And they fix spiked muzzles of iron around the 
snout." These are still in use to prevent calves from sucking. 
They are not such as to confine the mouth of the young animal, for 
then it could not eat ; but they are iron spikes fastened about the 
snout, which prick the dam if she offers to let her young one suck. 
— Ora. Observe the literal construction of the clause : " they fix 
the snouts in front with spiked muzzles of iron." 

401-403. Premunt. " They put under press," i. e., for making 
cheese. — Calathis. " In basket-shaped vessels." Calathus properly 
means a basket somewhat in the shape of a lily, that is, narrow at bot- 
tom, and swelling out and bending over at the top. Here, however, a 
milk vessel of the same form is meant, made either of wood or 
metal ; Servius says, of bronze. Martyn erroneously confounds this 
species of vessel with the ordinary whey-basket, used in making 



376 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

cheese.— Adit oppida pastor. As the meaning of this whole pas- 
sage has been much contested, it may be as well to state what ap- 
pears to be its true sense. The milk obtained in the morning and 
during the day is put under press at night, and converted into a 
kind of cheese for present use. What is obtained, however, in the 
evening, remains cool during the night, and is either taken to the 
city in the cool of the morning for sale, or else pressed and salted 
for winter-cheese. Schirach suggests, indeed, a different explana- 
tion. He thinks that the milk obtained in the evening was con- 
verted into butter for the winter. A singular opinion. Butter ap- 
pears to have been very little known to, or used by, the Greeks and 
Romans till the time of Galen, that is, at the end of the second 
century. It appears, also, that when they had learned the art of 
making it, they employed it only as an ointment in their baths, and 
particularly in medicine. Pliny (H. N., xxviii., 19) recommends it, 
mixed with honey, to be rubbed over children's gums, in order to 
ease the pain of teething, and also for ulcers in the mouth. The 
Romans, in general, seem to have used butter for anointing the 
bodies of their children, to render them pliable. (Tertull , adv. Mar- 
cion. t iii., 13.) If we except a single passage of Dioscorides (Mat. 
Med., ii., 81, p. 107), we find no proof whatever that it was used by 
the Greeks and Romans in cookery, or in the preparation of food. 
This is easily accounted for, by the ancients having entirely accus- 
tomed themselves to the use of oil ; and, in like manner, butter at 
present is very little employed in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the 
southern parts of France. 

404-407. Nee tibi cura canum, &c. Immediately after the sheep 
and goats, the poet makes mention of dogs ; some of which are neces- 
sary to defend the folds against robbers and wolves, and others are 
of service in hunting. — Una. "Together with the flock."— Spartce 
catidos. Compare note on verse 345. — Molossum. This breed had 
its name from Molossis, a district of Epirus. Martyn thinks that 
the Molossian dog was the same with the English mastiff. Ac- 
cording to Aristotle, there were two kinds of Molossian dogs : one, 
used for hunting, was not different from the common sort of dog ; 
but that which was used by the shepherds was large of size, and 
fierce against wild beasts. (Hist. An., ix., 1.) — Seropingui. " With 
fattening whey." Columella, in like manner, remarks : u Omnes 
sine discrimine canes ordeacea farina cum scro commode pastil" (vii., 
12, 10). Varro, in giving directions to feed dogs with bread and 
milk, assigns this reason for it : " Quod eo consueti cibo uti, a pecore 
non cito destiscunty (R. R., ii., 9.) 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 377 

408-413. A tergo. While the shepherd is leading his flock, ac- 
cording to the custom in Italy, the sheep-stealers might easily come 
behind and pick up a sheep, were there not dogs to watch. — Impa- 
catos Iberos. "The restless Iberi" By the Iberi are meant the 
Spaniards, who were so infamous for their robberies and thefts of 
this kind, that their name is here employed todesignate cattle thieves 
in general. The term impacatos refers to their restless and only 
half-subdued state. — Onagros. Wild asses were not known in 
Italy, and these animals are merely mentioned here by way of poetic 
embellishment, and, since they are remarkable for speed, their 
name, in all probability, is introduced in order to express the excel- 
lence of the dogs. (Valpy, ad loc.) The wild ass was found espe- 
cially in Phrygia, Lycaonia, and other warm countries. At the 
present day, it is met with most frequently in Syria. (Voss, ad loc.) 

Volutabris pulsos silvestribus. " Dislodged from their sloughs in 
the woods." Volutabrum properly signifies the muddy places in 
which swine delight to roll. — Turbabis agens. "You shall drive in 
alarm ;" more literally, " driving onward, you shall alarm." — Premcs. 
" Shall urge onward." 

414-415. Disce et odoratam, &c. The poet now proceeds to show 
the injuries to which cattle, &c, are subject, and begins with a 
striking account of serpents. — Cedrum. Consult note on Georg., ii., 
443. — Galbaneoque agitare, &c. " And to drive away with the 
(strong) perfume of Galbanum the fetid chelydri." The chelydrus 
was an amphibious kind of serpent. (Compare note oh Georg., ii., 
214.) It was remarkable for the very venomous nature of its bite, 
and for its exceedingly offensive smell. — Galbaneo. Galbanum is 
the concreted juice of a plant called Bubon galbaniferum. Dioscori- 
des describes it as growing in Syria, and the juice, or gum, as having 
a very strong smell, so that it drives away serpents with its fumes. 
This gum resin, at the present day, comes in large, soft, ductile 
masses, of a whitish colour, becoming yellowish with age, and hav- 
ing an acrid, bitter taste, with a strong, disagreeable odour. 

416-^120. Sub immotis prasepibus. " Under the mangers that 
have not (for a long time) been moved," i. e., that have not for a 
long time been swept and cleaned. Columella recommends, in a 
particular manner, the diligent sweeping and cleansing of the sheep- 
cotes, &c, not only to free them from mud and dung, but also from 
noxious serpents. — Mala tactu. " Of harmful touch;" literally, 
" harmful to be touched." — Ccelum. " The light," i. e., the light let 
in when the collected filth, &c., is removed. — Aut, tccto adsuetus 
coluber, &c. " Or that snake, the cruel plague of kine, which is ac- 

Ii2 



378 NOTES ON THE GEOEGICS. BOOK III. 

customed to creep beneath a roof and into some shady place, has 
kept close to the ground." Martyn thinks that the serpent here 
meant is what Pliny calls the boa, an opinion altogether untenable. 
Voss, with more probability, declares in favour of the collared ad- 
der, or Coluber natriz of Linnaeus. 

421-424. Tollentem minas, &c. " Rearing his angry head, and 
causing his hissing neck to swell (with ire)." — Jamquefugd timidum, 
&c. " And now, in his flight, has he hidden deeply his coward 
head, while his middle folds, and the tortuous movements of the 
extreme tail, are relaxed, and the farthest winding drags along its 
lingering spires." The snake, in its flight, manages to bury its head 
deeply in the earth, but still there remains enough of its body be- 
hind on which a blow may easily be inflicted. 

425-434. Est etiam Me malus, &c. It is universally agreed that 
the poet here describes the Chersydrus, which abounded in Calabria. 
The name is derived from x*P ao S-> "land," and vdup, " water," and 
refers to the amphibious nature of the reptile. — Rumpunturfontibus, 
" Burst forth from their springs." Rumpuntur is here for rumpunt 
se, or erumpunt. 

Hie piscibus atram, &c. The construction is well explained by 
Wagner, as follows : "Hie quidem, in stagnis, piscibus ingluviem cx- 
plet, sed postquam exusta palus, in agris savit, homines et pecudes 
mordens." There is no need, therefore, of our reading hinc for hie, 
as some propose, on the authority of a single MS. — Asper. " Ex- 
asperated." — Exterritus. "Rendered wild." Compare Voss :" von 
Hitze vcrwildert." 

436-439. Dorso nemoris. " On some wooded acclivity." Com- 
pare Burmann : " Locum in nemore editiorem et ideo sicciorem puto in- 
telligi, in quo tanquam in pulvino jacens quis dormiat.'''' — Catulos. " Its 
young." — Et Unguis micat, &c. Literally, " and makes a rapid quiv- 
ering motion with its three-forked tongue in its mouth," i. e., makes 
its three-forked tongue quiver rapidly in its mouth. 

440-444. Morborum quoque, &c. The poet now describes the dis- 
eases to which sheep are subject. — Scabies. Consult note on verse 
299. — Ad vivum persedit. " Has pierced them to the quick ;" more 
literally, " has sunk or settled down." — Illotus. " Not having been 
washed off" — Et hirsuti secuerunt, &c. They would be peculiarly 
exposed to being wounded by brambles in their recently shorn state. 

445_45l. Magistri. "The keepers." (Consult note on verse 
549.) — Missusque secundo, &c. " And is sent to float down the 
stream;" literally, "and being sent, floats down," &c. — Tristi. 
"Bitter." — Amurcd. Consult note on Georg., I, 194. — Spumas car- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 379 

genti. " Litharge.' This is a semi-crystalline protoxide of lead, 
obtained in separating silver from lead ores. — Et sulfur a viva. 
" And native sulphur." We have given the reading of Wagner, rn 
preference to the ordinary one, " vivaque sulfura," which makes an 
awkward hypermeter. — Idceasque pices. "And Idaean pitch." Pitch 
is called " Idaean," because pitch-trees abounded on Mount Ida. 
The ancients had two kinds of pitch, one called arida, or sicca, what 
we properly term pitch ; and the other called liquida, the same as 
our tar. The latter is here meant. Pliny says it is an excellent 
remedy for the scab in cattle. (H. N., xxiv., 7, 24.) 

Pingues unguine ceras. " Wax fat with unctuous properties," i. 
e., fat, unctuous wax, or, in other words, wax and oil forming ce- 
rate. — Scillawque. "And squills." The squill, or sea-onion, is a 
large bulbous root, like an onion, but much exceeding it in size. It 
grows on the seashore. — Elleborosque graves. " And strong helle- 
bore." There are two kinds of hellebore, the white and the black. 
The former is meant here. Columella expressly mentions the 
white hellebore as one of the ingredients in the liniment which he 
recommends for the scab, (vii., 5, 7.) — Bitumen. Bitumen, or, as 
the Greeks called it, uacpalroc, is a fat, sulphureous, tenacious, in- 
flammable substance, issuing out of the earth, or floating upon wa- 
ter. Pliny also mentions a mixture of bitumen and pitch as good 
for the scab in sheep. 

452-456. Magis prcesens fortuna laborum. " More ready remedy 
for their sufferings." — Tegendo. " By being covered." A genuine 
instance of the gerund in a passive sense. — Medicos. " Healing." 
— Aut meliora deos, &c. " Or sits supine, asking the gods (in prayer) 
for better omens (of health)," i. e., sits supine, praying the gods for 
aid, and trusting to prayer alone. 

457-463. Dolor. "The malady." — Incensos astus. "The kin- 
dled inflammation." — Et inter ima ferire pedis, &c. " And to strike 
the vein spouting with blood between the under parts of the foot." 
— Bisaltce. A people of Macedonia, between the Lake Bolbe and 
the Strymon. They were of Thracian origin. — Acerque Gelonus. 
"And the fierce Gelonian." (Compare Georg., ii., 115.) — Quum 
fugit in Rhodopen, &c. " When he roams towards Rhodope^ and 
into the deserts of the Getae." Observe that fugit here refers, not 
so much to any actual flight before a foe, as to the rapid movements 
generally of wandering hordes, mounted on fleet steeds, and chan- 
ging their settlements from time to time, either in quest of new pas- 
tures, or in consequence of intestine commotions. (Compare Voss, 
ad loc.) — Rhodopen. Consult note on verse 351. A distinction 



380 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK HI. 

must be drawn here. The Geloni were much nearer the solitudes 
of the Getae than Mount Rhodope, and, in order to arrive at the lat- 
ter, would have to cross the Danube and Mount Haemus. The Bi- 
saltae, therefore, roam towards Rhodope, and the Geloni into the 
deserts of the Getee. (Consult Wagner, ad loc.) — Deserta Getarum. 
By this is meant the tract of country between the Danube and 
Tyras (or Dniester), foiming part of what is now Lower Moldavia. 

Et lac concretum, &c. This custom of drinking milk and horse's 
blood is ascribed by Dionysius the geographer to the Massagetae, 
a Scythian people. Pliny mentions the Sarmatae as mixing millet 
with the milk of mares, or with the blood drawn out of their legs. 
(H. N., xviii., 10, 24.) 

464-469. Quam procul, &c. " Whatever one (of your sheep) you 
shall see (standing) at a distance from the rest." — Carpentem igna- 
vius. " Cropping more lazily (than usual) " — Exlremam. " Last in 
order," i. e., behind the rest. — Et sera solum decedere nocti. " And 
by herself to yield to the late night," i. e., to return alone late at 
night. — Continuo culpam f err o compesce. "Without a moment's de- 
lay, check the evil by the steel," i. e., kill the sheep, and thus check 
an evil that would otherwise contaminate the whole flock. Culpam 
is here equivalent to causam morbi, or malum simply. — Incaulum vul- 
gus. " The unwary flock." 

470-471. Non tarn creber, &c. " No whirlwind, driving along the 
wintry storm, pours down on the surface of the deep so many a 
thick-coming rain-drop, as many as are the plagues of flocks and 
herds." We have given here the interpretation of Wagner, which 
appears decidedly superior to that of Heyne. The latter makes 
the meaning to be this : " non tarn crebri et frequentes turbines in mari 
exoriuntur ■." But creber is here to be regarded as referring to the 
thick, dense rains, and aquore is merely added by way of embellish- 
ment, storms at sea being by far the most formidable of any. Ru- 
erc, moreover, is often applied to the rapid descent of rain. The 
order of construction, therefore, according to Wagner, is as fol- 
lows : non turbo, agens hiemem, tarn creber ruit, and not non tarn creber 
turbo, agens hiemem, ruit. 

Pestes. The poet cannot mean that pestilence or murrain is as 
common among the flocks and herds, as the rain-drop is thick- 
coming in tempests. Pestis, in truth, is here to be regarded as a 
more general word, and includes all the several great misfortunes 
that attend them. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

472-473. Tota cestwa. " Whole flocks and herds." JEstiva (scil. 
loca, or pascua) properly denote the summer quarters of cattle, taken 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 381 

here for the cattle themselves — Spemque gregemque, &c. " Both the 
young ones and their dams together ;" literally, " both the hope 
and the flock at the same time." Observe how beautifully spem is 
here employed to designate those on whom the flock is to place its 
hope of perpetuity, namely, the young. — Cunctamque ab origine gen- 
tem. Observe that the poet prefers here, to a simple apposition, 
this epexegetical clause with the connecting conjunction, in order to 
add force to the sentence. (Wagner, Quozst. Virg., xxxiii., 7.) Simi- 
lar instances occur at verse 541 of this book, and in Mn., vii , 85. 

474-477. Turn sciat. " Then may one know the truth of this," 
i. e., that whole flocks and herds are wont to be swept away by pes- 
tilence. Observe the force of turn, and its emphatic employment 
at the beginning of the sentence : then may one learn fully this sad 
truth, when he has witnessed the desolation that still, after so long 
an interval, prevails from this cause amid the mountain-pastures of 
the Alps, the Noric hills, and the fields adjacent to the River Tim- 
avus. — Norica castclla in tumulis. ' " The Noric mountain-abodes on 
the hills," i. e., the mountain-abodes on the Noric hills. Observe 
that castella here are not fortified places, or strong-holds, but mere- 
ly the mountain-habitations of the shepherds, perched, like so many 
castles, high up on the elevated grounds. — Norica. Noricum was a 
region of ancient Germany, corresponding to the modern Styria, 
Carinthia, Salzburg, and part of Austria and Bavaria. It was bound- 
ed on the north by the Danube, and on the south by Illyricum and 
Gallia Cisalpina, where it bordered upon the Alps. — Iapydis arva 
Timavi. " And the fields of Iapydian Timavus." The Timavus 
was a small though celebrated stream of Italy, in the territory of 
Venetia, northeast of Aquileia, and falling into the Adriatic. It is 
here called "Iapydian," from the Iapydes, a people of Illyricum, 
whose territory reached at one time to its banks. 

Post tanto. "After so long a time;" literally, "so long after." 
For tanto tempore post.—Regna. " Realms." Equivalent, in fact, to 
agios, or pascua. 

478-481. Hie quondam. The poet now proceeds to give an ac- 
count of a fearful pestilence that swept away whole flocks and 
herds from the regions just described. His description of this ca- 
lamity is adumbrated, in some degree, from the account given by 
Lucretius of the plague at Athens, and in which this latter poet 
had Thucydides for his model. The Athenian pestilence, how- 
ever, affected both man and beast ; whereas, the one described by 
Virgil confined its ravages to animals. They who think that the 
poet is here delineating the Athenian plague are altogether wrong. 



382 N0TE8 ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

Hie quondam morbo exit, &c. " Here, in former days, a wretched 
season arose, through the vitiated state of the atmosphere, and 
burned with all the heat of autumn." — Totoque auctumni, •&e. The 
poet does not mean, as some suppose, that the pestilence raged 
during the whole of autumn, but merely that the weather, while 
the malady continued, was marked by the most intense heat, as if 
it had been the concentrated heat of the whole autumnal season. 
— Infecit pabula tabo. " Infected the pastures with poisonous mi- 
asmata." 

482-485. Nee via mortis erat simplex. " Nor was the path of 
death one and the same." Various explanations have been given 
of these words ; the best appears to be, that death did not present 
itself in a single shape. The poet immediately explains his mean- 
ing by mentioning two different symptoms of the same distemper, 
which seem directly contrary one to the other. The cattle were 
parched with heat to such a degree as to contract their limbs, and 
again were swelled with humours, as if dropsical. (Holdsicorth, 
ad loc.) 

Ignea sitis. " The burning heat." By sitis is here meant a parch- 
ing heat and thirst that attend all malignant fevers. — Venis omni- 
bus acta. " Driven through every vein," i. e., penetrating rapidly 
through every part of the frame. — Adduxerat. " Had drawn to- 
gether," i. e., had contracted. — Abundabat fluidus liquor. The con- 
trary symptom is here meant. They now swelled with humours, 
as if dropsical. — Omniaque in se, &c. "And gradually converted 
into its own substance all the bones, piecemeal, consumed by the 
disease." The bones became carious, and were gradually dis- 
solved. 

486-493. In honore deum medio. "In the midst of a sacrifice to 
the gods." — Hostia. The sheep is here probably meant, as this ap- 
pears to be the usual expiatory victim. (Compare JEn., vi., 153. 
Valpy, ad loc.) — Lanea dum nived, &c. " While the woollen wreath 
is getting encompassed by the snow-white fillet." The infula was 
a flock of white and red wool, which was slightly twisted, drawn 
into the form of a wreath or fillet, and used by the Romans for or- 
nament on festive and solemn occasions. In sacrificing, it had the 
vitta, a riband or fillet, twisted round it, which served to hoid to- 
gether the loose flocks of wool, and the whole was worn around 
the head of the victim, and also of the priest. — Moribunda. " In 
the agonies of death." 

Aut, si quamferro, &c. " Or, in case the priest had, (before this 
could happen), immolated any victim with the steel ; neither do the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 383 

altars blaze when the entrails, taken from the animal, are placed 
thereon ; nor can the diviner, on heing consulted, give any respon- 
ses therefrom." — Quam. For aliquam, scil. hostiam. — Ante. Equiv- 
alent to antequarn moriens caderet. — Tnde. For ex ed, scil. hoslid. — 
Neque impositis ardent, &c. More poetic and elegant than neque 
impositee ardent altaribus fibra, though this would convey the more 
precise meaning. Observe, moreover, that fibris is here employed 
in the general sense of extis. The special meaning of the term 
fibra may be ascertained from the note on Georg., i., 484. — Nee 
responsa, potest, &c. When the exta, on being examined by the 
diviner, were found to be either deficient or diseased, they were 
thought not to disclose the will of the gods. On such occasions, 
therefore, ihe diviner pronounced them muta, and could give no an 
swer from their examination. 

Ac vix supposili, &c. " The knives, too, applied (to the throat) 
beneath, are scarce tinged with blood, and the surface of the 
ground is but just stained with poor and corrupted gore," i. e., 
when the sacrificial knife is applied to the throat of the victim, but 
little blood proceeds from the wound, and that poor and corrupted. 

494-497. LcBtis in herbis. " Amid the abundant pastures." Ob- 
serve the force of the epithet latis. The pastures are merely re- 
ferred to as abundant, since otherwise they were fraught with 
death. And so of plena prcesepia, immediately after. (Compare 
verse 481 : "infecit pabula tabo") — Reddunt. Compare the expla- 
nation of Wakefield (ad Lucret., vi., 1196) : " Reddunt, redonant, re- 
mittunt in ilium athera, Wide, primum spiritum haurientes, vitam suam 
arcessiverint." > 

Hinc canibus blandis, &c. " Next, madness comes upon the fond 
dogs," i. e., the dogs are next attacked, and the malady, in their 
case, becomes of a rabid character. Observe the opposition here 
between blandis and rabies. The infection spreads to the dogs, 
from their being employed in guarding the flocks and herds. — Et 
quatit agros, &c. "And a panting cough shakes the sickening 
swine, and obstructs their swollen throats." Swine are peculiarly 
subject to coughs, and inflammatory swellings in the throat. 
Hence the propriety here of the term angit, whence comes an- 
gina, the Latin appellation for quinsy. — Obesis. We have followed 
the authority of Servius, who makes the term equivalent here to 
tumentibus. 

498-503. Studiorum atque immemor herba. " Forgetful of the 
race and the pasture." Compare Voss : " wie des Kampfs unein- 
gedenk, so des Grases." Studiorum beautifully marks the fond 



384 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

eagerness for victory that once characterized the sinking steed. 
Wakefield recommends the removal of the comma after infelix, 
and the joining of infelix studiorum in construction. Wagner, also, 
approves of this, and explains infelix studiorum by " cui nihil pro- 
sunt studia sua, victoria reportata." Jahn, however, is correct in 
characterizing this as irrelevant, when said of a horse worn out 
by disease. 

Fontesque avertitur. " And turns with aversion from (the once 
frequented) springs." Observe the Graecism, or, more correctly 
speaking, perhaps, the verb has here a middle force : " he turns 
himself away as regards the springs." — Crebra. " Oftentimes." 
The neuter plural of the adjective taken adverbially. — Incertus ibi- 
dem sudor, &c. " A sweat bursts forth at irregular intervals around 
the same parts, and this, indeed, a cold one, when they are about to 
die ;" literally, "for them about to die." By incertus sudor is meant 
a sweat that comes and goes uncertainly and irregularly. — Ibidem. 
Referring to aures, and equivalent, therefore, to circa aures : A 
sweating of the head. — Aret pellis, &c. " The skin grows dry, 
and, on being touched, is hard and unyielding unto him that touches 
it." Observe that ad tacturn is here equivalent to tactu, or cum tan- 
gafur, and tractanti to tangenti. This dryness of the skin is incon- 
sistent with the sweating just mentioned. We must, therefore, 
suppose, either that the poet means the skin of all the other parts 
of the body, except the region of the ears, which is very unlikely ; 
or else, that all the symptoms described by him were not found in 
every horse, but that they were variously affected. The cold sweat 
is a sign of the diminution of the vital powers ; and the dryness 
and hardness of the skin show that there is a great inward heat, 
and an obstruction of the matter which ought to be perspired 
through the pores of the skin. (Martyn, ad loc.) 

504-508. Sin in processu, &c. " But if, in process of time, the 
malady begins to grow more violent." Crudescere is here for savior 
fieri. After mentioning the symptoms that appeared during the 
first stages of the attack, he now r proceeds to mention those which 
ensued when the disorder increased in violence. — Atque attractus 
ab alto spiritus, &c. " And the breath was fetched deep, and some- 
times loaded with a groan ; while with a long sob they distend their 
lowest flanks." Some regard ilia as a nominative, and supply se 
after tendunt. The construction which we have adopted is the 
more natural one. (Compare dant, in verse 503.) — Et obsessas fau- 
ces premit aspcra lingua. " And the rough tongue cleaves to their 
ulcerated jaws." The tongue is rough, and swollen with inflam- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 385 

mation, and hence presses against or cleaves to the jaws, which 
are themselves, also, swollen and beset (obsessa) with ulcers, an ul- 
cerated swelling of the fauces being a common symptom in this 
disease. (Compare Lucretius, v., 1146 : " Ulceribus vocis via septa 
cciibat") 

509-510. Profuit inserto, &c. "At first it proved of service to 
pour the Lenaean liquor into (their throats) by means of an inserted 
horn," i. e., to pour wine down their throats through a horn insert- 
ed into their mouths. — Lenceos. Consult note on Georg., ii., 7. — 
The ancients gave wine to their horses, along with other medica- 
ments, in several complaints. (Colum., vi., 30. — Geopon., xvi., 3, 
4.) It was either poured through the jaws, as in the present in- 
stance, or through the nostrils. This was done, in the latter case, 
for the removal of pituitous matter, or to stop bleeding. The wine 
was poured through a horn. Even in the heroic ages, it was cus- 
tomary to give unto the weary steeds, at evening, wine mixed 
with water ; and Andromache, in the Iliad, performs this task for 
the horses of Hector. (7/., viii., 188.) 

511-514. Furiisque refecti ardebant. "And, being recruited (by 
the wine), they burned with furious rage." The liquor threw them 
into a state of furious excitement. — Ipsique suos, jam morte sub cegrd, 
&c. " And they themselves, when now in the agonies of death, 
tore their own mangled limbs, with teeth laid bare to the view." — 
Morte sub cegra. Observe the employment of sub to denote the 
proximity of time. — Nudis. The poet intends, by this epithet, to 
express the horrid grinning of the horse in the agonies of death. — 
Di meliora pits, &c. Supply dent, or fer ant. The ellipsis is suppli- 
ed in Terence (Phorm., v., 8, 16), " mi homo, Dii meliora duint .'" and 
also in Tibullus (iii., 4, i.), " Di meliora fer ant .'" — Errorem ilium. 
" Such derangement as that." 

515-519. Duro fumans sub vomere. " Smoking beneath the heavy 
plough." Intended to describe the animal in the midst of his work, 
and smoking with perspiration. — Exlremosque cietgemitus. Observe 
the beautiful effect of the pause after these words, and the air of 
sadness which it imparts to the line. — Mcerentem abjungens, &c. 
The melancholy march of the spondees, in this verse, is in admira- 
ble keeping with the subject. — Reliquit. We have given this read- 
ing, with Voss, on MS. authority, as far more graphic than the re- 
linquit of the ordinary text. 

520-524. Non umbra altorum nemorum, &c. Heyne expresses 
himself in doubt whether to apply these words to the surviver, or 
the animal that has just fallen, or to the cattle in general. Accord- 

Kk 



386 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK III. 

ing to Wagner, the last is the true view of the subject. — Purior elec- 
tro. " Purer than amber." The term elcctrum, among the ancients, 
was applied to two substances : 1, to amber ; and, 2, to a species 
of compound metal, containing four parts of gold to one of silver, 
and so called from its resemblance to pale amber. Commentators 
differ as to the substance which the poet had in view in the pres- 
ent instance. Servius is in favour of the metal, and Heyne and 
Voss agree with him. It appears, however, far more poetical to 
make the allusion be to amber, and the words of the text will then 
refer to a stream exceeding even this fossil in translucent proper- 
ties, not to one having merely a brighter surface than the metal 
electrum. Compare Milton (P. L., hi., 359): "Rolls o'er Elysian 
flowers her amber stream." 

Solvuntur. "Grow flabby;" literally, "are relaxed." — Urguet. 
"Presses upon." — Ad t err amque fluit, &c. "And his neck sinks 
slowly to earth with its drooping weight." Observe the beautiful 
employment of fluit to denote the gradual sinking of the neck to 
earth. 

525-531. Quid labor, aut benefacta juvant 1 " What do his toils and 
bis good services now avail 1" Scaliger, the detractor of Homer and 
panegyrist of Virgil, after regarding the whole description given by 
the latter poet of the dying ox as Apollo's work itself, and as hav- 
ing fallen from the skies, declares that he would rather be the au- 
thor of the six lines, in particular, from 525 to 530 inclusive, than 
to have a Croesus or a Cyrus obedient to his mandate. (Seal., 
Poet., v., ii., p. 264, b.) 

Atqui non Massica, &c. " And yet no Massic gifts of Bacchus, 
no banquets of many courses, have ever harmed them." In order 
to excite the more compassion for them, and to show how little 
they have deserved to die such a death, by reason of any excesses 
in which they may have previously indulged, the poet exclaims, 
" And yet they have led simple lives ; there has been, in their case, 
no quaffing of the liquor of Bacchus, no luxurious feasting ; their 
drink has been the river's stream, their food the simple herbage," 
&c. — Massica. The Massic was the best growth of the Falernian 
vineyards. (Consult note on Gcorg., ii., 143.) 

Epulce reposta.. The meaning of repostce here has given rise to 
considerable discussion. The best explanation is that of Wagner, 
who makes cpulce repostce to be a banquet of many courses, where 
the viands are served up again and again, in long succession, thus 
forming a prolonged and luxurious feast. (Qucest. Virg., xxxxi.) — 
Et victu simplicis herba. "And on the sustenance afforded by the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 387 

simple herbage," i. e., on the plain grass. — Pocula. For polio. — Ex- 
ercita cursu. " Exercised with running," i. e., purified by running. 
The reference is to pure, running water, as opposed to that which 
is stagnant. Compare the explanation of Wakefield : " Longorum 
lapsuum agitatiombus per lapillos et arenas attcrentes atque exercenics 
percolala." (Ad Lucret , v., 263.) 

532-533. Quasitas. " Were sought for, (but sought in vain)." In 
the sacred rites of Juno, milk-white heifers were requisite to drag 
the car containing the priestess and her sacred implements. The 
pestilence, however, had swept them all ofF, and the chariot had to 
be drawn by wild cattle, ill matched. Observe that the rites of 
Juno are here put, in fact, for religious rites generally. — Uris. Con- 
sult note on Georg., ii., 374. — Donaria. Literally, " offerings." Put 
here, however, for the place where the offerings were consecrated 
and laid up, namely, the temple itself. 

534-536. Ergo cegre rastris, &c. " With difficulty, therefore, do 
men break up the ground with hoes." The cattle having been all 
swept off by the pestilence, ploughing the ground was out of the 
question. The husbandmen were compelled, therefore, to make 
use of the raster bidens, or two-pronged hoe, and hack and break up 
the earth with this, a labour which they with difficulty accom- 
plished. Rimantur forcibly expresses the hardship of this employ- 
ment, and its inferiority to ploughing. With all their efforts, they 
make mere rimce, or chinks in the ground, in place of the broad fur- 
row wrought by the share. Observe, too, how well the succession 
of spondees marks the slow progress of the work. — Rastris. Con- 
sult note on i., 164. 

Et ipsis unguibus, &c. " And they plant the corn with their very 
nails," i. e., through the want of furrows and under-ploughing, they 
were obliged to insert the corn into the earth with their fingers, 
and then scrape the ground over it with their nails. — Contentd cer- 
vice. " With strained neck." They strained their own necks be- 
neath the yoke in drawing the heavy wagon. — Stridentia. Refer- 
ring to the loud creaking made by the peculiar wheel used in wag- 
ons. It was nearly a foot in thickness, and was made either by 
sawing the trunk of a tree across in a horizontal direction, or by 
nailing together boards of the requisite shape and size. 

537-540. Non insidias explorat. " Seeks not where he can lie in 
ambush." — Nee gregibus nocturnus obambulat. " Nor does he prowl 
by night against the herds." The poet, having already mentioned 
the destruction that was made among the cattle, now represents 
this wasting pestilence as extending itself through earth, sea, and 



388 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 

air. — Acrior cura. Referring to the anguish of the disease, under 
which he himself is now a sufferer. — Interque canes, &c. The cir- 
cumstance of deer wandering among dogs proves that the pesti- 
lence had deprived the former of their fear, the latter of their fero- 
city. {Valpy, ad loc.) 

541-547. Jam maris immensi prolem, &c. Observe that jam is 
here, as usual, the particle of continuation, in the sense of " too," 
or " moreover." As regards the clause, et genus omne natantum, con- 
sult the note on verse 473. — Ceu naufraga corpora, &c. The poet, 
in this part of his narrative, openly contradicts Aristotle, who says 
that a pestilential disease does not seem ever to attack fishes. {Hist. 
An., viii., 19, 20.) That a great mortality, however, does occasion- 
ally take place among the finny tribes, modern and very recent ex- 
perience fully testifies. — Proluit. "Washes up." — Insolita. "Un- 
accustomed so to do," i. e., accustomed to dwell in the sea, unac- 
customed to rivers. — Et attonili squamis adstantibus hydri. "And 
the astounded water-snakes with scales erect." Attoniti is proper- 
ly equivalent here to torpentes or rigentes. — Non aquus. " Becomes 
unkind." — Pracipites. " Falling headlong." 

548-555. Mutari pabula. " For their pastures to be changed." — 
Quasitceque nocent artcs. " Remedies sought out (from the expe- 
rience of others) prove injurious." These are remedies obtained 
by inquiry from others, in opposition to the domestic remedies 
accustomed to be applied. In other words, they are the regular 
prescriptions of medical science, as contradistinguished from do- 
mestic practice. — Cessere magistri. " The keepers (themselves) 
yielded (to the evil)," i. e., gave over all attempts to withstand the 
malady by the application of remedies. The keepers or overseers 
of flocks and herds were termed magistri, and on large estates were 
under a head keeper or superintendent, called villicus. - These ma- 
gistri had commonly many subordinates, of servile origin, who 
were the immediate keepers of the flock or herd, and they were 
required to keep a regular account of the number of animals under 
their charge, and also to be in possession of written rules for heal- 
ing, prescriptions, &c, so as to be able to cure without the aid of a 
physician. {Voss, ad loc.) Now the poet says, on the present oc- 
casion, that even the most skilful of these magistri could do no good 
in the healing way. Instead, however, of stating this in so many 
words, he selects two names from mythology of eminent practition- 
ers of medicine, and makes even these to have yielded to the evil. 

Phillyrides Chiron, &c. Chiron was the son of Saturn and Phil- 
yra, and was, in form, a centaur. (Consult note on verse 93.) He 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK III. 389 

was famous for his knowledge of the nature and virtues of plants, 
and became eminent as a physician. Melampus was the son of 
Amythaon, and celebrated as a soothsayer and physician. — Tisi- 
phone. One of the Furies. — Agit ante. " Drives on before her," i e., 
from the lower into the upper world. 

556-560. Catervatim dat stragem. " She deals destruction (among 
them) by crowds," i. e , by whole flocks and droves. — Turpi dilapsa 
tabo. "Rotting away with foul corruption." — Coriis usus. "Any 
advantage to be derived from their hides." — Nee viscera quisquam, 
&c. " Nor is any one able to get rid of the flesh, when divested of 
the skin, by the river's aid, or to consume it by the flame." So gen- 
eral was the mortality, that it was found difficult either to consume 
the dead animals by fire, or to float them away in the rivers. The 
hide being also useless, the carcasses were buried whole. (Valpy, 
ad loc.) — Viscera. The flesh of the animal when skinned, or, as 
Servius expresses it, quicquid sub corio est. Observe that the term, 
as here employed, does not mean that the animals were actually 
deprived of their skin, but the flesh that would have remained if 
they had been skinned. 

561-566. Teresa. " Corrupted ;" literally, " all eaten."— Te- 
las putres. " The infected yarn spun from the wool." (Compare 
the explanation of Voss : " Tela, hier die Gespinnste oder Faden 
zum Weben.") — Papula. " Pustules." — Sequebatur. " Spread over." 
— Nee longo deinde moranti, &c. " And then, after no long interval, 
unto him delaying (to throw off this garment), the sacred fire began 
to prey upon his infected limbs," i. e., in case he delayed, even for 
a short time only, to throw it off; or, in other words, if he continued 
to wear it only for a short time. — Sacer ignis. A species of ery- 
sipelas, supposed by some to be the same with St. Anthony's fire. 
(Consult Columella, vii., 5, 16. — Lucret., vi., 1165. — Voss, ad loc.) 
Kk2 



390 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK IV. 



BOOK IV. 
Analysis of the Subject. 

I. General statement of the subject of the book, namely, the 
history and management of the bee ; accompanied by an invocation 
to Maecenas, (v. 1-7.) 

II. Habitations for bees. (v. 8-50.) 

(A.) A place should be sought for the hive that is sheltered from 
the winds, from the encroachment of quadrupeds, from lizards, 
and from the bee-eater as well as other birds, (v. 8-17.) 

(B.) It should be, moreover, well supplied with water and trees 
(v. 18-28), and rich in flowers, (v. 30-32.) 

(C.) Beehives, out of what they are to be made. (v. 33-34.) — 
Ought to have narrow entrances, and to be very close ; that is, 
to have no cracks or unstopped crevices, (v. 35-41.) — An al- 
lusion to the abodes which bees oftentimes construct for them- 
selves in the ground, in rocks, and in hollow trees, (v. 42-44.) 
— Additional protection ought to be given by man to the abodes 
of bees, by a covering of mud or clay on the outside, (v. 45-46.) 
— Care, too, must be taken, not to let any yew-trees grow near 
the hive ; nor to burn near it anything that may produce an 
unpleasant smell ; nor to have it near the mire of stagnant fens, 
on account of the noisome odour from the same ; nor in the 
vicinity of any place where there is a loud echo. (v. 47-50.) 

III. Swarming of bees. (v. 51-148.) 

(A.) Rearing of the young, and the flying forth of the same when 
reared, (v. 51-62.) 

(B.) How to cause them to settle, (v. 62-66.) 

(C) How to stop their contests. By throwing dust at them (v. 
67-87), or by killing one of the leaders, (v. 88-90.)— Mode of 
distinguishing between the two leaders, so as to select for 
death the worse one of the two. (v. 91-94 ) — Mode of distin- 
guishing between the better and the worse kind of bees. (v. 
95-102.) 

(D.) How to keep swarms from straying off. By plucking off 
the wings of the leader (i. e., queen bee), and by planting at- 
tractive gardens near. (v. 103-115.) 

(E.) Description of such a garden, (v. 116-148.) 

IV. Polity of the bees. (v. 149-227.) 



NOTES ON THE GEORGIA. BOOK IV. 391 

(A.) Social habits, (v. 153-157.) 

(B.) Industry, (v. 158-177.) 

(C.) Duties assigned to different classes of the community, (v. 

178-190.) 
(D.) Foresight, (v. 191-196.) 
(E.) Propagation of bees. (v. 197-209.) 
(F.) Attachment to their monarch, (v. 210-218.) 
(G.) Intelligence of bees. (v. 219-227.) 

V. Removal of the combs from the hive. (v. 228-250.) 

(A.) How and when. (v. 228-238.) 

(B.) Of sparing their stores against a necessitous winter (v. 
239-^40), and the aid to be afforded them even in such a case, 
although no honey be obtained from the hive. (v. 241-247.) — 
At other times, but little should be left them, in order that they 
may be the more diligent in repairing their loss. (v. 248-250.) 

VI. Diseases of bees, and the remedies for the same. (v. 251- 
280.) 

(A.) Symptoms, (v. 254-263.) 
(B.) Remedies, (v. 264-280.) 

VII. Artificial generation of bees. (v. 281-314.) 
(A.) Exercised in Egypt, (v. 287-294.) 

(B.) Description of the process, (v. 295-314.) 

VIII. Aristaeus, the inventor of this mode of generating bees, 
(v. 315-558.) 

(A.) Complains to his mother Cyrene of the loss which he had 
sustained, (v. 317-332.) 

(B.) Abode of Cyrene described, and an account of her sister- 
Nymphs, and their employments, (v. 333-356.) 

(C.) Visit of Aristeeus to his mothers abode, (v. 357-373.) 

(D.) His reception there, (v. 374-386.) 

(E.) He is directed by his mother to apply unto Proteus (v. 387- 
397), and in what way to compel that deity to give him the 
information of which he is in quest, (v. 398-414.) 

(F.) Proteus is accordingly sought out, and surprised and fet- 
tered by Aristaeus, while lying asleep in a cave on the shore, 
(v. 415^40.) 

(G.) The fettered sea-god at last complies, (v. 441-452.) 

(H.) Proteus now proceeds to intimate to Aristasus that his mis- 
fortunes are all owing to the just anger of the Nymphs at the 



392 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

death of Eurydice, occasioned by his unhallowed passions, and 
to the imprecations of the bereaved Orpheus, (v. 453-529.) 

(I.) Death of Eurydice described, (v. 457-459.) 

(J.) Lamentations of the Nymphs and Orpheus, (v. 460-466.) 

(K.) Descent of Orpheus to the lower world in quest of Eurydice. 
(v. 467-484.) 

(L.) Eurydice's return, which is eventually frustrated, however, 
by the impatience of her spouse, (v. 485-503.) 

(M.) Fresh lamentations of Orpheus, (v. 504-519.) 

(N.) His death, (v. 520-529.) 

(0.) Cyrene now instructs her son as to the propitiatory offer- 
ing which he is to render (v. 530-547), and out of this a new 
supply of bees is to be procured by him. (v. 548-558.) 

IX. Conclusion of the poem. (v. 559-566.) 



BOOK IV. 

1-2. Protenus a'erii mellis, &c. "Next in order will I pursue 
(as my theme) the heaven-sent gift of the aerial honey." Protenus 
marks the immediate succession of this part of the subject, after 
those portions that have been discussed in the previous books. 
The present book is devoted to the history and management of 
the bee, an insect that has, for many ages, claimed the attention 
and study of the naturalist. Pliny informs us (H. N., xi., 9), that 
Aristomachus, of Soli in Cilicia, devoted fifty-eight years to the 
study ; and that Philiscus, the Thasian, spent his whole life in 
forests, for the purpose of investigating their habits. But, in con- 
sequence (as we may naturally infer) of their imperfect methods of 
research, assuming that what they did discover was known to Aris- 
totle, Columella, and Pliny, we are justified in pronouncing the 
statements of these philosophers, as well as the embellished poeti- 
cal pictures of Virgil, to be nothing more than conjecture — almost 
in every particular erroneous. It was not, indeed, till 1712, when 
glass hives were invented by Maraldi, a mathematician of Nice, 
that what we may call the in-door operations of bees could be ob- 
served. Since then, the labours of Swammerdam, Reaumur, Bon- 
net, Schirach, Thorley, Hunter, Huber, and more particularly Be- 
van, have added greatly to our knowledge of these interesting little 
creatures. 

A'erii mellis, &c. The ancients believed that honey fell from the 
sky in dew, and was collected by bees ; and hence the epithets 
a'erii, and codestia, here employed by the poet. This opinion prob- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 393 

ably arose from the appearance of what is even yet termed honey 
dew, a name applied to those sweet clammy drops, that glitter on 
the foliage of many trees in hot weather. Honey dew, however, 
which is of two kinds, is either a secretion from the surface of the 
leaf, or a deposition from the body of the aphis. Modern inquiries 
show, that the occupation of the working bees is to collect honey, 
pollen, and propolis, to build combs, and to attend upon the young. 
Honey is collected from the nectariferous glands in the cup, or chal- 
ice, of flowers. It cannot be said, however, to be a purely vegeta- 
ble production, for, after being collected by the proboscis of the in- 
sect, it is transmitted to that distention of the oesophagus termed 
the crop, sucking stomach, or honey bag, where it is elaborated, 
and again disgorged, to be deposited in the cell of the honey comb. 
Pollen is collected from the antherae of flowers, and is carried on 
the outer surface of the tibiae, or middle joint of the hinder legs. 
This part of the leg is very broad ; on one side it is concave, and 
furnished with a series of strong, curved hairs on its margins, 
forming a natural basket, admirably adapted to the purpose for 
which it is intended. This substance, mixed with honey, forms 
the food of the larvae, for which object alone it is collected. The 
gathering of the pollen affords a striking illustration of the means 
indirectly employed by Nature to second her purposes. The pollen 
is the fertilizing dust of flowers ; it is necessary for some of it to fall 
on a particular part of the pistil, in order that the flower shall give 
place to fruit, enclosing the seed of a future plant. Now it has 
been remarked by a great number of naturalists, that the bee, when 
it collects the pollen from one plant, does not go to a different sort 
of plant for more, but, labouring to collect the same kind of fertil- 
izing dust, it seeks only the same kinds of flowers. Since the fe- 
cundation of the vegetable kingdom is effected in no small degree 
through the medium of insects, which, while searching for their 
own food, unconsciously sprinkle the fertilizing pollen on the re- 
productive organs of plants, it follows that, had the bee gone from 
one kind of flower to another, this would have given rise to hybrid 
plants, and thus have contravened the purposes of Nature. Propo- 
lis, the third substance which bees collect, is an odoriferous, res- 
inous gum, obtained from the buds of certain trees, such as the 
birch, the willow, and the poplar. It is more tenacious and exten- 
sible than wax, and well adapted for cementing and varnishing. It 
is not only used in lining the cells of a new comb, but is some- 
times kneaded with wax, and employed in rebuilding weak parts, 
and in stopping all the crevices in the interior of the hive. When 



394 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

the bees begin to work with this substance, it is soft, and of the 
colour of garnet, but every day it acquires a firmer consistence, 
until at length it assumes a brown colour, and becomes much hard- 
er than wax. The ancients called it propolis (TrponoXit), from irpo 
and 7ro/Uf, " before the city," because principally employed, as they 
thought, upon the projecting parts of the hive. (Compare Varro, 
R. R., iii., 16.— Plin., H. N., xi., 7.) 

Hanc etiam Mcecenas, &c. " Deign, O Maecenas, to look upon this 
portion, also, (of my song)." No lengthened invocation here en- 
sues, as in the previous books, but the poet enters at once upon his 
subject. 

3-7. Admiranda levium, &c. "Wondrous spectacles of minute 
things." Spectacula here is very graphic, this book being, as it 
were, the representation of a busy kingdom in miniature. — Studia. 
" Zealous pursuits." — Populos. n Tribes," i. e., different kinds.— 
In tenui. " Is about an humble theme." — Quern. For aliqucm. 

Numina lava. " The adverse deities." Great difference of opin- 
ion exists with regard to the true meaning of Iceva here, and the 
difficulty arises from the double signification which the adjective 
lavus has in Latin, namely, both " adverse" and " propitious." Ser- 
vius declares in favour of the latter, explaining lava by prospcra, 
and he is followed by Heyne and Voss. Aulus Gellius, on the oth- 
er hand, gives the term in question the meaning of " adverse," or 
" unpropitious," which certainly suits the spirit of the passage much 
better. It seems intended, in fact, to carry with it an air of mod- 
est distrust, on the part of the poet, in his own abilities. He thinks 
that one will be able to derive reputation, even from such a theme 
as this, provided no adverse deity interfere to prevent ; that is, in 
effect, provided he fail not in the management of a subject, in which, 
from its very nature and its humble range, the risk of failure is so 
great. — Auditquc vocatus Apollo. He now alludes to a propitious 
deity, Apollo Nomius (Ndpoc), or the pastoral Apollo, the god pre- 
siding over pastures, shepherds, &c. Observe, moreover, in con- 
firmation of the view we have taken, that, in the case of adverse 
deities, it is sinunt, implying the probability of refusal ; whereas, in 
that of a propitious divinity, it is merely audit, implying a readiness 
to hear. 

8-15. Statio. A military term is here employed, the organization 
of the bees being regarded as, in many respects, that of a military 
community. — Pabula. "Their food." The honey and pollen. The 
honey intended for early use, and for the nursing bees and drones, 
is deposited in cells, which are allowed to remain open, while the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 395 

finest honey, which is laid up in store for winter, is placed in the 
most inaccessible parts of the hive, and closed in the cells with wax- 
en lids. — Floribus insuhcnt. " May trample upon the flowers." — 
Atlerat. " May bruise." — Picti squalentia terga lacerti. " Lizards 
streaked as to their scaly backs," i. e., with scaly, party-coloured 
backs. — Pinguibus a stabulis. " From the rich hives." 

Meropcsque. " And bee-eaters." The bird here meant is the 
Merops apiaster of Linnaeus. ' It is common in the south of Europe, 
in the southern latitudes of Russia, in India, and especially in south- 
ern Africa, where it is said to guide the Hottentots to the wild honey 
in the woods. It has been, though very rarely, seen in England. 
A flock of bee-eaters is recorded, in the Linnsean Transactions, to 
have appeared in Norfolk in 1793, and one of these birds was also 
shot in Devonshire in 1827. The bee-eater feeds on winged in- 
sects generally, but more especially on bees. In the form of the 
body, mode of flying, locality, &c, there is some analogy between 
these birds and the swallows ; so much so, indeed, that in the 
neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, where these birds most 
abound, the Dutch colonists call them mountain swallows. {Grif- 
fith's Cuvier, vol. vii., p. 420.) 

Aliceque volucres. In America, the king-bird, the protector of 
cornfields from the depredations of crows, is said to be a great de- 
stroyer of bees. (Bevan's Honey Bee, p. 72, Am. ed.) — Et manibus 
Procne, &c. " And Procne, marked as to her breast by her bloody 
hands." The allusion is to the well-known story of Procne, Philo- 
mela, and Tereus. Procne, in conjunction with her sister Philo- 
mela, murdered her own son Itys, and served up his flesh to his fa- 
ther Tereus. She was transformed into a swallow ; and hence, by 
Procne in the text is meant that species of bird which is number- 
ed by the poet among the enemies of bees. Procne is here de- 
scribed as having her bosom sprinkled with the blood of her son, 
which drops upon it from her reeking hands ; and several species 
of swallows are described by naturalists as having red or rufous 
breasts, such as the Hirundo fuscata, the H. rutila, &c. (Griffith's 
Cuvier, vol. vii., p. 64, seqq.) 

16-20. Ipsasque volantes. " The bees themselves while on the 
wing." Supply apes, with which both ipsas and volantes are to 
agree. Swallows, in particular, take their food while flying. — Ni- 
dis immitibus. " To their cruel young." Nidis, for pullis ; the nests 
for the young that occupy them.' — Liquidi fontes. Varro often in- 
culcates this precept, that bees should have clear water near them. 
— Tenuis rivus. "A gentle rivulet." A strong current would 



396 NOTES ON THE GEOKGICS. BOOK IV. 

sweep the bees off. Varro recommends, that the stream of water 
be not deeper than two or three fingers' breadth, and that shells or 
small stones be placed in it, projecting a little above the surface, 
in order that the bees may alight on these and drink. {Varro, 
R. R., iii., 16, 27.) 

Z Rcges. The ancients, and also the naturalists of the Middle 
Ages, supposed the sovereign of the bees to be a male. It is now 
well known to be a female. Every association of bees comprises 
three descriptions of individuals, and each description is distin- 
guished by an appearance and cast of character peculiar to itself. 
The queen is at once the mother and mistress of the hive, and 
reigns from her very birth. She is distinguished from the rest of 
the society by a more measured movement, by the great length of 
her body, the proportional shortness of her wings, and her curved 
sting. Her colours, also, distinguish her from the rest of the com- 
munity as much as her shape : the upper surface of her body is of a 
much brighter black ; the under surface and the legs are of a dark 
orange or copper colour, that of the hinder legs being somewhat 
deeper than the rest. Next in order come the working bees. These 
are by some called neuters, or mules ; by others, female non-breeders. 
The latter is the more appropriate title, it being now agreed by the 
best apiarians that the workers are steril females, with undevel- 
oped ovaries. In a single hive, the number of these varies from 
12,000 to 20,000. Where, however, by affording room, swarming 
is prevented, a single family in summer may contain 50,000 or 
60,000. They are the smallest members of the community, are 
furnished with a long, flexible apparatus known by the name of 
proboscis, have a peculiar structure of the legs and thighs, on the 
latter of which are small hollows, or baskets, to receive the pollen 
and propolis, which they collect, and they are armed with a straight 
sting. Upon them devolves the whole labour of the colony ; they 
rear the young, guard the entrances, elaborate the wax, collect and 
store the provision, and build the cells in which it is warehoused, 
as well as those that contain the brood. Thirdly, there are the 
drones, or males, to the number of perhaps 1500 or 2000, according 
to the strength of the family. These make their appearance about 
the end of April, and are never to be seen after the middle of Au- 
gust, except under very peculiar circumstances. They are one 
third larger than the workers, somewhat thicker, and of a darker 
colour. They make a great noise in flying, are destitute of baskets 
on their thighs, and have no sting. The males take no part what- 
ever in the labours of the community, but are idle, cowardly, and 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 397 

inactive. They serve no other purpose than that of impregnating 
such of the young queens as may lead forth swarms in the season, 
or be raised to the sovereignty of the parent hive. (Bevan's Honey 
Bees, p. 9, seq., Am. ed.) 

Prima examina. Virgil makes the "new monarchs" lead off the 
first swarms. This, however, is not so. The old queen bee always 
conducts the first swarm, but never quits the hive before depositing 
eggs in the royal cells, from which other queens will proceed after 
her departure. First swarms are much more particular in select- 
ing a fine day for their emigration than after-swarms. This fas- 
tidiousness probably arises from the circumstance of first swarms 
being the most important to the preservation of the species, which 
renders ihem instinctively more careful of themselves than after- 
swarms. — Vere suo. " In their own spring." The spring of the 
bees commenced in Italy and Greece with the vernal equinox, and 
is here distinguished from the spring of man, which, among the 
Romans, commenced the 5th day before the Ides of February, or 
the 9th day of the month. According to Hyginus [ap. Colum., ix., 
14), the bees began to fly forth at the vernal equinox, and to swarm 
from the rising of the Pleiades, about the 7th of May, until the 
longest day. According to modern authorities, the most advan- 
tageous period for a swarm to be thrown off is from the middle of 
May to the middle of June, which coincides very nearly with the 
remark of Hyginus. (Bevan, Honey Bee, p. 49.) Servius takes suo 
here in a different sense, as equivalent to sibi grato et aptissimo, so 
that r vere suo will mean, according to this view, "in the spring 
which they love." But this wants point. — Decedere calori. " To re- 
tire from the heat." Obviaque hospitiis, &c. " And the confronting 
tree may (receive and) detain them in its leafy shelter." 

25-32. In medium, &c. " Into the midst of the water, whether it 
shall stand motionless, or shall flow onward." Observe that iners 
here by no means carries with it the idea of a stagnant piece of 
water. — Transversas. "Crosswise,"?', e., across. — Sparscrit. "May 
have sprinkled them," i. e., with rain. Bees dislike rain excessive- 
ly ; though, when the sky is totally overclouded, they are not de- 
terred from collecting, and in such case the commencement of soft 
rain does not alarm them. — Neptuno. "In the water." Observe 
the amplification here in the employment of Neptunus for the sim- 
ple aqua. — Casia. Compare note on Eclog., ii., 49. — Serpylla. Com- 
pare note on Eclog., ii., 11. — Et graviter spirantis, &c. " And plenty 
of strong-scented savory." The thymbra of the ancients is gener- 
ally thought to have been some species of satureia } or savory. It 
Ll 



398 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

has a strong aromatic smell like thyme. On the subject of bee pas- 
turage generally, consult the remarks of Bevan, Honey Bee, p. 25. 

33-36. Seu corticibus tibi suta cavatis. " Whether they shall have 
been formed for thee of hollow pieces of cork sewed together." 
Beehives made of cork, still in use in Spain, were preferred by the 
ancients to all others, as being neither too cold in winter, nor too 
warm in summer. (Columell., ix., 6. — Plin., N. H., xxi., 14, 47.) A 
representation of one may be seen in Broukhusius's edition of Ti- 
bullus, p. 205. There is no evidence that hives were ever made by 
the ancients of straw. — Alvearia. The strict Latin term for a bee- 
hive is alveus, or alvus, and the place where the hives stand is prop- 
erly called alveare, alvear, and alvearium. Here, however, and also 
elsewhere, these latter words are employed to denote the hive it- 
self. — Cogit. "Coagulates." — Eadem liquefacta remittit. "Melts 
the same, and causes it to run." 

37-41. Utraqucvis. "Either extreme," i., e., of heat or cold. — 
Neque ilia nequidquam, &c. " And not for nothing do they, in the 
interior of their abodes, vieing with one another, smear over with 
wax the slender crevices." By " wax," the poet must be here un- 
derstood to mean, in reality, propolis. He has the same substance 
still in view when using the expressions fuco et floribus and gluten. 
It is well known that the habitation of bees ought to be very close. 
If it contained any cracks or unstopped crevices, other insects might 
enter the hive, or the rain might penetrate into the interior, which 
would be attended with fatal consequences. Any deficiencies in 
these respects, which may arise either from the unskilfulness or 
negligence of man, the insects supply by their own industry, so that, 
when they take possession of a new abode, their first and principal 
care is to close up all crannies with propolis. (Nat. Hist, of Insects, 
p. 65.) 

Fucoque et floribus oras explent. "And stop up the openings with 
fucus and flowers," i. e., with a red-coloured juice obtained from 
flowers. The poet does not mean that the bees plaster their hives 
with flowers, but with a juice obtained from them. This juice, 
which is called gluten in verse 40, is nothing more than the propolis 
already referred to ; which the bees, however, obtain, not from 
flowers, but from the buds of certain trees, such as the birch, the 
willow, and the poplar. When first procured, it is a transparent 
juice of the colour of garnet, but it subsequently acquires, as al- 
ready stated, a firmer consistence, and assumes a brown colour. 
Fucus properly means a species of sea- weed, anciently used in dye- 
ing red ; and then any kind of colouring material, as here the red- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 399 

coloured propolis. — Collectumque hcec ipsa, &c. "And collect and 
preserve for these very purposes a glutinous substance more tena- 
cious than both bird lime and the pitch of Phrygian Ida." This 
gluten, as just remarked, is only another name for the propolis. — 
Phrygia pice Idee. Consult note on Georg., hi., 460. 

42-44. Effossis latebris, &c. " They have dwelt beneath the 
earth in excavated hiding places ;" literally, "they have cherished 
their household god." This description suits some classes of wild 
bees, and particularly what are called mining bees,' or andrence. 
These are very small of size, many of them not being larger than a 
house fly, and they dig in the ground tubular galleries, little wider 
than the diameter of their own bodies. The whole labour of dig- 
ging the nest, and providing food for the young, is performed by 
the female. The males, like the drones of the honey bees, are idle, 
while the females are unprovided with labourers, such as the 
queens of the hives command. {Insect Architecture, p. 43.) — Pent- 
tusque reperta, &c. " Bees, too, have been found deep down in 
both hollow rocks, and in the cavity of a tree eaten out (by time)," 
i. e., the cavity of a decayed tree. Pumex is here employed gener- 
ally for any rock. Wild bees are again alluded to, and among the 
number the mason bee in particular, which constructs its nest either 
of clay, or of sand kneaded into a kind of mortar by the admixture 
of the insect's saliva. Reaumur speaks of nests of the mason bee 
that were harder than many kinds of stone, and which might easily, 
therefore, be mistaken for that substance. 

45-50. Tu tamen e levi, &c. " Do you, nevertheless, carefully 
cherishing, smear their creviced chambers all around with soft mud." 
The poet's meaning is this, that, careful as bees are to secure their 
abode, and fill up the crevices with propolis, you should, neverthe- 
less, give them additional protection and warmth by a covering of 
mud on the outside. — Levi limo. Literally, " with smooth mud," i. e., 
mud well worked up with water, and calculated to make a smooth 
coating for the hive. — Fovens. Referring to the additional warmth 
imparted by the process. — Raras super injice frondes. A light cov- 
ering of leaves and straw will preserve the coating from the weath- 
er, especially from the rain. (Compare Columella, ix., 14, 14) : 
" Congestu culmorum. etfrondium super tegemus?'' — Taxum. The yew 
is well known to poison with its leaves both men and cattle. As 
regards the honey tainted by it, consult note on Eclog., ix., 30. — ■ 
Rubentes cancros. "Red crab-shells." It was customary among 
the Romans to burn crab-shells to ashes, and to employ these ashes 
as a remedy for burns and scalds. The red colour refers, of course, 



400 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

to the change of hue produced by the action of the fire. These 
shells emitted, when burning, a smell thought to be injurious to bees. 

Alice ncu crede paludi. In deep fens there are, of course, no stones 
for the bees to rest upon, and hence such places must be dangerous 
for them. — Odor coeni gravis. " There is a strong smell of mire." 
Nothing can be more offensive to the bee than the smell emitted by 
the mire of stagnant fens. — Aut ubi concava, &c. " Or where the 
hollow rocks resound on being struck, and the image of the voice, 
on having been brought into contact with them, leaps back," i. e., 
where there is a loud redoubling of the echo from hollow rocks. 
This would alarm the bees, and cause the swarm to take up a new 
abode elsewhere. Observe the beautifully poetic expression " vocis 
imago," to denote the echo, or reflection of the voice, and compare 
Horace, Od., i., 12, 4. 

51-59. Quod supercst. Consult note on Georg., ii., 346. — Ubi pul~ 
sam hiemem, &c. Consult note on verse 22. — Cxlumque reclusit. 
"And has opened the heavens." The sky, during the winter sea- 
son, is conceived of as shut in and obscured by clouds and tem- 
pests. — Purpureosque metunt flores. " And collect the harvest of 
the bright-hued flowers, and, light of pinion, sip the surface of the 
streams." Metunt, incorrectly rendered by some " crop," refers, 
figuratively, to the harvest of honeyed sweets which is yielded by the 
flowers. Any bright colour was expressed by purpureus, because, 
in the ancient purple, not only its colour, but its bright surface also, 
was admired. Thus, Pedo Albinovanus (ii., 62) applies this epithet 
to snow, " nivem purpuream ;" Lactantius (de Phcen., 74) to the air, 
" a'era purpureum ;" and Virgil, elsewhere (JEn., i., 590), uses it fig- 
uratively, in speaking of the season of youth, " lumenque juventa pur- 
pureum." Compare the similar usage in Greek, in the case of ;rop- 
<pvpioc, together with the remarks of Bockh, ad Pind., Pyth., iv., 203. 

Hinc. " From these sources," i. e., from the flowers and streams. 
— Nescio qua dulcedine lata. Consult note on Georg., i , 412. — Pro- 
geniem nidosque fovent. "They support their progeny and hives," 
i. e., the young brood of their hives. The young brood of the hives 
are not, as Virgil supposes, the offspring of the working bees ; on 
the contrary, they owe their origin to the eggs laid by the queen 
bee after impregnation by the drones. Schirach says, that a single 
queen will lay from 70,000 to 100,000 eggs in a season. This 
sounds like a great number, but it is much exceeded by some other 
insects. The female of the white ant extrudes not less than sixty 
eggs in a minute, which give 2,419,200 in a lunar month, and the 
enormous number of 211,449,600 in a year. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 401 

Hinc arte rccentcs, &c. " From these they skilfully elaborate the 
new wax." The ancients believed that wax was obtained from 
flowers. On the contrary, it is secreted by certain small sacklets 
on the body of the bee, as occasion requires, for constructing the 
combs. — Hinc, ubi jam, &c. " After this, when now," &c. Hinc 
now changes its meaning, and refers to the order of time and work. 
— Nare per ceslatem liquidam. " To float amid the clear summer air." 
Compare the explanation of Heyne : "per a'erem liquidum, aestivd 
sercnitate," and also Gray's imitation, "float amid the liquid noon." 
(Ode on Spring, verse 27.) 

60-63. Obscuramque trahi, &c. " And shall view with wonder a 
dark cloud (of them), getting carried along by the wind," i. e., and 
shall with wonder see them so numerous as to resemble a dark 
cloud, &c. — Contemplator. " Then observe (them) closely." (Com- 
pare note on Georg., i., 187.) — Jussos sapores. " The strong-scent- 
ed herbs that are (here) directed (to be employed)." These are 
mentioned immediately after. — Trita melisphylla. " Bruised balm." 
The name melisphyllum is contracted from melissophyllum (fiehioao- 
<j>vX?i.ov), and means " bee leaf," or " bee herb." The regular Latin 
appellation is apiastrum. It is the modern balm. — Cerinthce ignobile 
gramen. " The common plant of honey wort." The name of this 
plant is derived from nrjpiov, "a honey comb," because the flower 
abounds with a sweet juice like honey. 

64-66. Tinnitusque cie. " Call forth, also, tinklings," i. e., make 
a tinkling noise with brazen vessels. A tinkling noise is generally, 
though erroneously, considered to be useful in inducing bees to set- 
tle ; it is usually made by drumming smartly upon a frying-pan with 
a large key ; and the cottagers, according to Bevan, call it tanging 
or ringing. It was probably practised at first, as Butler says, to 
proclaim to the neighbours that a swarm was up, serving as a pub- 
lic notification to them from what quarter the swarm proceeded. 
"This view of the matter is confirmed," says Bevan, "by the opin- 
ion prevalent in some districts, that unless the apiarian can prove 
the tanging, he cannot justly lay claim to the swarm, if it happen 
to cluster on the premises of a neighbour. The original of this pro- 
ceeding seems, however, to be lost sight of, and what was founded 
on reason has been continued from habit ; consequently, the prac- 
tice is regarded by most of the cottagers as quite necessary to ef- 
fect a speedy and satisfactory settling of the bees. Most scientific 
apiarians discountenance it, and I am convinced that it is wholly 
unnecessary. It is, however, a very ancient practice, older than 
the days of Aristotle." (Honey Bee, p. 60.) 
Ll2 



402 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK IV. 

Et tnatris quate cymbala, &c. " And clash round about the cym- 
bals of the mother-goddess," i. e., of Cybele, the mother of the 
gods. At the festivals of this divinity her priests used to clash 
brazen cymbals. The cymbal is here figuratively used for any loud- 
sounding brazen or metal implement. — Medicatis sedibus. " On the 
places (thus) medicated to receive them," i. e., on the sprinkled 
boughs, or other places where the flight of bees is expected to set- 
tle. — Cunabula. " Cells ;" literally, " cradles." Beautifully ap- 
propriate in speaking of a young swarm. 

67-72. Sin autem ad pugnam exiennt, &c. These beautiful lines 
describe in a very poetical manner the fighting of the bees. The 
anger of these insects is not confined to man and other large ani- 
mals ; it is sometimes vented upon their own kind, not only in sin- 
gle combat, but in conflicts of organized masses. Cases of the for- 
mer kind every observer must have noticed ; and of the latter, sev- 
eral have been related by Reaumur, Thorley, Knight, and others. 
The engagement witnessed by Thorloy lasted more than two days, 
and originated in a swarm's attempting to take possession of an al- 
ready occupied hive. The wars of bees were also observed by the 
most ancient naturalists, and are recorded by Aristotle and Pliny. — 
Nam scepe duobus, &c. We have adopted here the punctuation and 
arrangement of Voss, making a parenthesis commence at nam see- 
pe, and terminate with the 76th line. After this, the general idea 
implied in the words sin autem ad pugnam exierint is repeated at line 
77, and then a new parenthesis commences at non densior in verse 
80, and terminates at subegit in verse 85. The words Hi motus an- 
imorum, &c, resume, after this, what had been interrupted by the 
second parenthetical clause. 

Regibus. The poet's " kings" are, as has already been remark- 
ed, well understood now to be queen bees. (Consult note an verse 
21.) — Continuoque animos, &c. " And you may straightway know, 
from the very first, the sentiments of the (insect) populace, and 
their hearts impatient for the conflict." Observe that bello is here, 
as Voss correctly remarks, in the dative. — Trepidantia. Not re- 
ferring to any emotion of alarm or fear, but merely to the agitation 
of feeling brought about by strong excitement. — Fractos sonitus tu- 
barum. " The broken sounds of trumpets," i. e., the interrupted, 
irregular sounds. Poetical exaggeration, of course ; still, however, 
it is well ascertained that bees emit, when irritated, a piercing 
shrillness of sound, very different from the soft, contented noise 
which they make when coming home loaded on a fine evening. 
(Bevan's Honey Bee, p. 102.) 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 403 

73-75. Trepidce. "In high excitement." (Compare note on 
trcpidantia, in verse 69.) — Spiculaque exacuunt rostris. " And whet 
their stings upon their probosces." This is all an error, arising 
from an ignorance of the structure of a bee's sting. This weapon 
never requires to be whetted, and, if it did, it could not be reached 
for that purpose by the proboscis, or tongue. The formidable instru- 
ment consists of an extensile sheath, enclosing two needle-shaped 
darts, much finer than a human hair. The latter can seldom be 
distinguished by the naked eye, what is usually taken for the sting 
being only the sheath. Swammerdam, however, could never as- 
certain whether the bee can wound or pierce the skin with the 
sheath only ; being very sharp, it may possibly be used to make the 
first puncture, before the darts are thrust out. The two darts are 
distinctly separate, even to the base ; and, though so very close to 
one another, they can be made to act independently, for Swam- 
merdam has often seen one thrust out farther than the other. To- 
wards their extremity, these darts are armed with ten minute teeth, 
standing obliquely, like those of a saw, and hence it happens that, 
when they are plunged into a bit of leather, or the human skin, the 
bee can seldom withdraw them again. The consequence is, that 
both they and their sheath, with all the parts connected, are forci- 
bly wrenched out of the insect's body, a mutilation which must 
prove fatal. {Insect Miscellanies, p. 324.) 

Aptantque lacertos. "And prepare their sinews (for the fight)." 
Lacertos is to be taken here in a general sense, not with any partic- 
ular reference to the arms merely, which would form, as Voss well 
remarks, rather a comic picture. — Ipsa ad praetor ia. "At the very 
praetorium." The praetorium was the name of the general's tent in 
a Roman camp, and was so called because the name of the chief 
Roman magistrate was originally prcetor, and not consul. The 
term is here used figuratively for the royal cell, the queen bee's 
abode. 

77-81. Ergo, ubi ver nacttz sudum, &c. "Therefore, as soon as 
they have got clear spring weather and an open sky ;" literally, 
"and open fields (of air)," i. e., a sky free from clouds, forming a 
clear battle-field in which to engage. Observe, with regard to 
ergo, that this particle, like sed, is sometimes employed, when a 
subject, which has been interrupted, is again taken up. It here 
resumes what had been broken off* by the parenthesis after ex- 
ierint, in verse 67. (Voss, ad loc.) — Concurritur ; cethere in alto, &c. 
The asyndeton here renders the description a more animated one. — 
Glandis. According to Palladius (xii., 14), acorns were gathered 



404 NOTES ON THE GEOKGICS. BOOK IV. 

in the beginning of November, by women and children, and were 
laid up as winter food for swine and cattle. 

82-87. Ipsi. " The leaders themselves," i. e., the kings, or, as 
we would say, the queen bees. Wagner, without any necessity, 
thinks that a verse has fallen out between lines 82 and 83, because 
there is, in his opinion, nothing to which ipsi can properly refer, 
and because the whole passage, as it now stands, is wanting, as he 
thinks, in eoncinnity.— Insignibus alls. " With wings distinguished 
from the rest." The wings of the queen bee are short and small 
in proportion, scarcely reaching more than half the length of the 
abdomen. This, however, is not what the poet means ; on the con- 
trary, he assigns to his leaders wings of a more conspicuous char- 
acter, which is contrary to the fact. — Versant. " Exert." 

Usque adeo obnixi non cedere, &c. " Struggling obstinately not to 
yield, even for so long a time, until the dread victor," &c. — Hi mo- 
tus animorum, &c. These words, coming in after the parenthesis, 
refer back to ergo ubi ver nactce, &c ., in line 77, and also, beyond 
these, to Sin aulem ad pugnam ezierint, in verse 67. — Pulveris exigui 
jactu, &c. " Will cease, being checked by the throwing (among 
them) of a little dust." The bees, it is thought, mistake tnis for 
rain, of which they have, in general, a great dislike. When bees 
are disposed to stray, also, the throwing handfuls_of dust or sand 
among them will, on some occasions, cause them to descend and 
cluster. Swarms have been arrested in this way by labourers in 
the field. (Bevan's Honey Bee, p. 60.) 

89-90. Detenor qui visus. " That appears the worse of the two." 
Deterior is opposed to melior, in verse 92, the reference being mere- 
ly to the " worse" and the " better," as far as appearance goes, and 
not, as some think, to the vanquished and the victor. As regards 
the precept itself, however, it is of no value, being altogether 
founded in error. The queen bees are all the same in appearance, 
except so far as age makes a difference. Virgil, however, is not to 
blame, but his Grecian authorities. — Ne prodigus obsit. " Lest he 
prove injurious as a wasteful devourer," i. e., lest he do harm by 
wasting the honey. There is never more than one queen regnant 
in a hive, so that what is here said about putting to death a rival 
ruler is not at all required on the part of man. The bees attend to 
this matter themselves. When two or three young queens escape 
from the cells, where they have been hatched, at the same time, 
the strongest stings the others to death, and becomes ruler of the 
hive. So, again, when a stranger queen is introduced into a hive, 
while there is already a queen remaining there, both the stranger 



NOTES ON THE GEORGIC9. BOOK IV. 405 

and the reigning queen are surrounded by the workers, and the es- 
cape of either being thus prevented, they are soon brought into con- 
tact. A battle ensues, which ends in the death of one of them, 
and the other then becomes ruler of the hive. — Melior vacua, &c. 
" Let the better one reign in a palace freed from a rival ;" literal- 
ly, " in an empty hall," i. e., empty as regards a rival. 

91-94. Alter erit maculis, &c. The poet now proceeds to state 
how the better one of the two may be distinguished from the infe- 
rior one. This, of course, is mere poetry, and has no foundation 
whatever in fact, as we have already remarked. The error, how- 
ever, is not Virgil's, but, as we have before said, that of his Gre- 
cian authorities. Observe that alter refers to the same leader who 
is styled melior in the next line. — Auro squalentibus. "Overlaid 
with gold." The poets frequently use squalere when speaking of 
anything that is overlaid or incrusted with another substance. 
(Hcyne, ad loc.)—Nam duo sunt genera, &c. "For there are two 
kinds (of leaders) : this one, the better of the two," &c. Observe 
that hie melior refers back to alter. The source of Virgil's error 
with regard to the two leaders may be found in Aristotle {Hist. 
An., ix., 40. Compare the Geoponica, xv., 2, 16). — Ille horridus alter. 
The poet merely copies Aristotle, who makes the inferior kind of 
leader dark and spotted, and twice as large as the working bee. 
Some think that the drone, or male bee, is erroneously meant. — 
Latam ahum. This is meant to be indicative of a glutton, who 
feeds upon the produce of another's labour. The abdomen of the 
drone (supposing that the poet has one in view here) is much broad- 
er than that of either the queen or working bee. 

95-102. Ita corpora plebis. Another error. The working bees are 
all alike. The captains, as they are termed, with their light-colour- 
ed top-knots on the centre of their frontlets, cannot be meant here, 
since they are only few in number, and seen occasionally ; neither 
can the poet refer to what are called black bees ; for these are only 
casual inmates of the hive, and are soon expelled by the workers. 
Pliny, indeed, divides bees into wild and tame, and makes the for- 
mer rough in their appearance ; but this, of course, cannot be Vir- 
gil's meaning. — Turpes horrent. " Have an ugly roughness." — Pul- 
rere ab alto. " From a dusty road ;" literally, " from deep dust." — 
Et sicco terram spuit, &c. " And, thirsting, spits the dirt out of his 
mouth." (Compare Voss :" Staub ausspeit.") This singular com- 
parison is somewhat softened down by Sotheby : " Who spits with 
fiery lip the dust away." 

Ardentes auro, &c. " Glittering as to their bodies covered all 



406 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS.— BOOK IV. 

over with gold and equal spots," i. c, their bodies glittering with 
golden spots of equal size and appearance. Virgil here follows the 
authority of Aristotle {Hist. An., ix., 40. — Compare Colum., ix., 3, 
2 ; and Varro, R. R., iii., 16, 19). If, however, the description given 
by Aristotle suits any kind of bee, it would appear to be a species 
of the genus Anthidium, which is nearly the size of the hive bee, 
and has a series of bright yellow spots on each side of the abdo- 
men. Aristotle's language certainly does not apply to the work- 
ing bee of the hive. This insect has always one and the same ap- 
pearance. It is of a dark-brown colour, approaching to black, and 
the head has black hair on the vertex. The legs are black, and 
the plantae of the hinder legs are transversely striated on the inner 
side. — Hcec potior soboles. Untrue, of course, as will appear from 
what has been stated in the preceding note. 

Cceli tempore ctrto. " At certain seasons of the sky," i. e., of the 
year. The seasons here alluded to are spring and autumn. (Con- 
sult, note on verse 321.) — Liquida. "Pure." — Et durum Bacchi, &c. 
" And fitted to overcome the harsh taste of wine." When the wine 
was deficient in saccharine quality, it was mixed with honey, and 
was then called olvoue?u, jue/urlrng ; and, in Latin, mulsum. It was 
said to have been invented by the legendary hero Aristaeus, and 
was considered most perfect and palatable when made of some 
rough, old wine, such as Massic or Falernian, and new Attic hon- 
ey. The proportions, as stated in the Geoponica, were four, by 
measure, of wine to one of honey ; and various spices and per- 
fumes, such as myrrh, cassia, costum, malobathrum, nard, and pep- 
per, might be added. Mulsum was considered the most appropriate 
draught upon an empty stomach, and was, therefore, swallowed 
immediately before the regular business of a repast began. Another 
kind of mulsum was made of must evaporated to one half of its 
original bulk, Attic honey being added in the proportion of one to 
ten. This, however, was merely a very rich fruit sirup, in no way 
allied to wine. {Plin., H. N., xiv., 4; xxii., 4. — Geopon., viii., 26. 
— Isid., Orig., xx., 3, § 11.) 

103-108. At, quum incerta volant, &c. This paragraph treats of 
the means to prevent the bees from leaving their situations. — Con- 
temnuntque favos. " And contemn their combs," i. e., disdain work, 
and leave their labours in filling the combs unfinished. — Frigida 
tecta. " Their (in consequence) cooled abodes," i. e., cooled, be- 
cause abandoned by the bees. The temperature of insects not 
gregarious is generally that of the medium which they inhabit ; 
but bees possess the power, not only of preserving a higher temper- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 407 

ature during the coldest months of winter, but of raising that tem- 
perature under particular circumstances. Experiments have clear- 
ly shown that this is accomplished by the increased activity of their 
respiratory organs. Juch, a German, plunged a thermometer into 
a beehive in the winter, and saw the mercury stand 27 degrees 
higher than it did in the open air. Hunter found the heat of a hive 
vary from 73° to 84° Fahrenheit ; and Huber, who says that, in a 
prosperous hive, the thermometer in winter commonly stands at 
from 86° to 88°, and in summer between 95° and 97°, stales that 
he has observed it on some occasions to rise suddenly from 92° to 
above 104°. (Bevan's Honey Bee, p. 98.) 

Tu regibus alas, &c. Modern experiments fully confirm what is 
here said, excepting, of course, the allusion to a plurality of sov- 
ereigns. The extent, indeed, of the bees' loyalty to their queen is 
so great, that when a person gets possession of her, he can cause 
a swarm to settle wherever he pleases, or confine it to any particu- 
lar spot. (Bevan, p. 51.) — Vellere signa. "To pluck up the stand- 
ards." An allusion to Roman discipline. When they pitched 
their camp they stuck their military ensigns into the ground, and 
plucked them forth again when they broke up their encampment. 

109-115. Invitent horti. " Let gardens (also) invite." Other 
means are now stated of preventing their departure. — Et, custosfu- 
rum, &c. " And let the protection of the Hellespontic Priapus, that 
guards against thieves and birds, armed with his willow scythe, pre- 
serve them from harm." Observe that Hellespontiaci tutela Priapi 
is equivalent, in fact, to Hellespontiacus Priapus, and custos to qua 
custodit. Priapus was a rural deity, worshipped by the people of 
Lampsacus, a city on the Hellespont. He was not, as is supposed 
by some, from the employment usually assigned him by the Romans, 
after they had adopted his worship, merely the god of gardens, but 
of fruitfulness in general. Hence bees are also placed under his 
care, and these he protects by driving away the birds. He was usu- 
ally represented with a sickle or short scythe in his hand, made of 
wood. Hence salignd is here, in fact, equivalent to the general 
epithet ligned. 

Thymum. Bees are remarkably fond of the wild thyme. Hence 
Mount Hymettus, in Attica, which is covered almost everywhere 
with wild thyme and other odoriferous plants, has always been a 
favourite resort of bees, and famed for its honey. — Feraces plantas. 
" Fruitful trees." — Et amicos irriget imbres. " And bedew them with 
friendly showers," i. c, water them well by means of irrigating 
streams from springs or rivers. Observe the construction here of 



408 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

irrigo with the accusative of imber, in place of amicis irriget imbri- 
bus plantas. A similar construction occurs in Cato, R. R., 36 : 
" Amurcam irrigarc ad arbores." Hence the expressions fons irrigu- 
us, and aqua irrigua. — Imbres. Employed here in a general sense 
for water. 

116-124. Atque equidem, &c. The poet, having mentioned the 
advantage of gardens with respect to bees, takes occasion to speak 
of them cursorily, but in language so appropriate and beautiful, that 
every reader must wish he had expatiated on the subject. — Extremo 
ni jam sub fine laborum, &c. "Were I not now furling my sails at 
the very close of my labours." Traham, for cqntraham. (Compare 
Lucretius, vi., 966 : " Ignis coria et carnem trahit et conducit in unum.") 
— Pingues. " Rich," i. e., productive. — Biferique rosaria Fasti. 
" And the rose-beds of the twice-bearing Paestum." Paestum, call- 
ed by the Greeks Posidonia, in honour of Poseidon, or Neptune, was 
a city of Lucania, below the River Silarus, and not far from the 
western coast. It was famed for its roses, which bloomed twice a 
year, in spring and in autumn ; and hence the roses of Paestum be- 
came proverbial with the poets. In modern times, the Rosa Indica, 
or Chinese Rose, far exceeds this, since it blossoms six or eight 
times in the year. It is found wild in China, about Canton, and 
was brought to England in 1789. — Quoque modo potis, &c. "And 
how endives, and banks green with celery, delighted in the rills 
drunk by them," i. e., in drinking the rills. Observe that polus, 
though commonly active, is here employed in a passive sense ; and 
compare Horace, Od., iii., 15, ult. — Intuba. Consult note on Georg., 
i., 120. — Apio. There were various kinds of apium (in Greek, ge/.l- 
vov). The one meant here is the Apium palustre, or celery, which 
delights in wet situations. 

Tortusque per herbam, &c. "And how the melon, winding along 
the grass, swells into a belly." The melon is meant here, not the 
cucumber. The term cucumis, like oinvoc, or oLkvc, in Greek, com- 
prehends not only the cucumber {cucumis agrestis, oikvc uypioc), but 
also the melon (oikvc fjfiepoc, edudiuoc, OTrepfiariac). In the classifi- 
cation of Linnaeus, also, the melon and the cucumber both fall under 
the general head of cucumis, the former being the cucumis melo. 
(Voss, ad loc.) — Sera comantcm narcissum. " The late-flowering daf- 
fodil." Sera is here used adverbially for sero, as in Georg., iii., 500, 
crebra for crebro. We have no reason to doubt but that the narcis- 
sus of the ancients is some species of that which we now call nar- 
cissus, or daffodil. The only difficulty, however, attending this de- 
termination is, that the species of daffodil known among us flower 



NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK IV. 409 

early in the spring, and seldom later than May ; whereas Theophras- 
tus, Virgil, and Pliny place their season in September. To this it 
may be answered, that in Greece these flowers may appear much 
later in the year. Busbequius says he was presented with daffo- 
dils near Constantinople in December. Tournefort found the yel- 
low daffodil common on the banks of the Granicus in December, 
and another sort, about the same time, near Ephesus. {Martyn, ad 
loc.) 

Aut flexi vimen acanthi. " Or the twiggy branch of the flexible 
acanthus." The term acanthus here may be best interpreted of the 
spinous kinds of broom. (Compare note on verse 137.) — Pallentes 
hederas. Consult note on Eclog., hi., 39. — Amantes littora myrtos. 
Consult note on Georg., ii., 112. 

125-129. Sub (Ebalice. turribus altis. "Beneath the lofty towers 
of CEbalia." By CEbalia is meant Tarentum, in Magna Graecia, 
founded by Phalantus, who led thither a colony from Sparta, of 
which city GEbalus was one of the ancient kings. Heyne, follow- 
ing merely Arusianus Messius, reads arcis for altis, but this latter, 
which is the common reading, is defended by Voss {ad loc.) and 
Weichert {Comment, de Tit., Scptim., &c, p. 8), and restored by 
"Wagner. — Galasus. A river of Calabria, flowing into the bay of 
Tarentum. The poets have celebrated it for the shady groves in 
its neighbourhood, and the fine sheep fed on its fertile banks, whose 
fleeces were said to be rendered soft by bathing in the stream. 
{Mart., Ep., ii., 43 ; iv., 28.—Horat., Od., ii., 6, 10.) 

Corycium senem. "An old man of Corycus." Corycus was a 
small town of Cilicia Trachea, on the seacoast, and to the east of 
Seleucia Trachea. The adjacent country was famed for its saffron. 
It has been asked how the old man of Corycus came into Italy. 
The answer is, that Pompey, at the close of the war against the 
Cilician pirates, had transported to Dyme in Achaia, and to Cala- 
bria in Italy, a large number of the inhabitants of Cilicia, including 
many of the people of Corycus, of whom this old man may be sup- 
posed to have been one. Some, however, think that, as the indi- 
vidual in question is celebrated by the poet for his skill in garden- 
ing, and as the Cilicians, in general, enjoyed a high reputation on 
this same account, the epithet " Corycius" may be merely meant as 
a complimentary one. {Voss, ad loc.) — Relicti ruris. " Of aban- 
doned ground," i. e., of ground which, on account of its unproduc- 
tive nature, had been allowed to lie waste and without an owner. 
— Nee fertilis ilia juvencis, &c. " Nor was that soil rich enough for 
the labours of oxen, nor fit for pasture," &c. Observe here the 
M M 



410 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

employment of seges, in a general sense, for solum, or arvum. — Ju- 
vencis. Literally, " for steers," i. e., for the plough. 

130-132. Hie rarum tamen, &c. " And yet he, planting pot-herbs 
wide apart in rows, within a hedge of thorns," &c. Observe that 
rarum does not mean here, as some suppose, a few scattered ones, 
which would be strange gardening, but standing wide apart in reg- 
ular rows. (Voss, ad loc.) — Tremens. Compare Georg., ii., 346. — 
Albaque lilia. The white lilies are those which were most celebra- 
ted and best known among the ancients. Theophrastus speaks of 
red lilies only by hearsay. — Verbenas. The verbena, whence the 
English name vervain is derived, was a sacred plant among the 
Romans. — Vescumque papaver. " And the small-grained poppy." 
Vescum is here equivalent to tenui grano. (Compare Georg., iii., 
175.) 

Ammo. This is the true reading, not animis, as the common 
text has it. Compare the remark of Wagner : " Bene animo ; 
nee unquam de mente et sententid animi plurali, sed animus singulari 
numero." 

134-138. Carpere. Historical infinitive for carpebat. — Saxa rum- 
peret. Compare Georg., iii., 363. — Ille cornam mollis, &c. We have 
restored the common reading, for which Heinsius, Voss, and 
Heyne read "Ille comam mollis jam tondebat hyacinthi;" translating 
comam, therefore, "the flower," whereas in the common lection it 
means " foliage." By the acanthus is here meant, not the brank- 
ursine, as most commentators suppose, but, as before remarked 
(note on verse 123), the spinous kinds of broom, the foliage of which 
the aged Corycian shears for the benefit of his bees. (Classical 
Museum, No. vii., p 9.) — Mstatem seram. "The late summer," 
i. e., slow-coming. 

139-143. Ergo apibus fcetis, &c. " This same one, therefore, 
was the first to abound with pregnant bees," &c. For the error 
committed by the poet, in the expression " apibus foztis" consult 
remarks on the queen bee, as the great mother of the hive, in the 
note on verse 56. — Tilia. Columella, contrary to all other author- 
ity, says that limes are hurtful to bees. — Quotque in flore novo, &c. 
"And with as many fruits as the fertile tree had clothed itself in 
early blossom," i. e., whatever the promise of fruit from the blos- 
som. — Ille etiam seras, &c. " He also transplanted into rows the 
far-grown elms," i. e., elms of considerable growth and size. The 
elm certainly bears transplantation at a later period than most 
other trees. (Valpy, ad loc.) — Spinos. "The wild plum-trees." — 
Jamque ministrantem, &c. " And the plane-tree now spreading 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 411 

forth a deep shade for those who drink (beneath)." The plane-tree 
is remarkable for its broad leaves. In all that has just been said, 
the old man's skill is meant to be commended : the elms were far 
grown ; the pear-tree was of a hard substance ; the wild plums al- 
ready bore fruit ; the planes were of sufficient size to shade per- 
sons sitting under them. His skill and success in removing trees 
of advanced age proved him, therefore, to be an experienced 
planter. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

149-152. Nunc age, &c. Here the poet begins to speak of the 
polity of the bees, by which all their actions contribute to the pub- 
lic good. He tells us, in this passage, that Jupiter bestowed this 
extraordinary quality on the bees as a reward for the service which 
they rendered him, when an infant, by feeding him with their hon- 
ey, in the cave where he was concealed from the devouring jaws 
of his father Saturn. — Addidit. This word implies that these pecu- 
liar natures did not originally belong to the bees,* but were added 
by the favour of Jupiter. — Pro qua. mercede. " For which reward," 
i. e., the reward for which. The plain construction would have 
been pro mercede ejus, quod eum puerum olim paverunt, " as a reward 
for this, namely, that they fed him when a boy," &c. The allusion 
is to the fable of Cybele's concealment of Jupiter in a cave of the 
Dictaean mountain, in Crete, when his father Saturn sought to de- 
vour him. The Curetes, in order to drown the noise of his infant 
cries, set up a clashing of cymbals. The noise attracted a swarm 
of bees to the cave, and their honey nourished the infant. Hence, 
according to the poets, the origin of ringing. The reward be- 
stowed upon them for this service was not the art of making and 
collecting honey, for, according to the legend, they knew this al- 
ready ; but it was their social principle, their habits of subordina- 
tion, pursuit of a common object, and division of labour, traits which 
distinguish them from solitary bees, and on account of which Aris- 
totle styles them £wa ttoIltlko,. {Valpy, ad loc.) 

153-164. Communes gnatos. " Offspring in common." Untrue, 
of course. — Consortia tecta urbis. "The buildings of a city that are 
shared in common." Compare the explanation of Wunderlich : 
" Tecta consortia sunt qua communi possessione tenentur, ut haredi- 
tas fratrum germanorum.'''' — Magnis legibus. " Stringent laws." — 
Certos Penates. " A fixed abode." — In medium. Consult note on 
Georg., i., 127. — Victu invigilant, &c. " Are intent on collecting 
food, and, by settled agreement, are employed in the fields." Ob- 
serve that victu (literally, " for food") is the*bld form of the dative 
for victui. — Septa. "The enclosures." — Narcissi lacrimam. The 



412 N0TE3 ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

flower of the daffodil forms a cup or calyx, and the sweet drop con- 
tained in this was fabled to be one of the tears of the young Nar- 
cissus, who pined away until he was changed into this flower. — 
Lentum gluten. "The viscous bee-glue." This is only another 
name for propolis, or, at least, of one of the three varieties of it 
mentioned by the ancients. 

Prima favis fundamina. Pliny calls the first foundation of the 
combs cammosis, a gummy substance, by which he means one of the 
varieties of propolis (H. N., xi., 7). The true foundation, how- 
ever, is laid with wax, impregnated with a frothy liquid supplied 
by the tongue of the insect. Propolis is employed in attaching the 
combs to the roof and sides of the dwelling. — Suspendunt. This is 
correct. Bees always work downward, suspending their comb from 
the top of the hive. — Adultos educunt fatus. If this refers, as it 
probably does, to the leading forth of new swarms, it is incorrect, 
since they are each led forth by a queen-bee. — Slipant. " Stow 
closely away." 

165-167. Sorti. The old form of the ablative, in place of sorte. 
Such, at least, is the opinion of Heyne, Wagner, and others, though 
Heyne states that he sees no good reason why it may not be taken 
as a dative. Voss is in favour of this latter case. The ablative, 
however, is decidedly preferable. (Consult Drakenborck, ad Sil. 
Ital., vii., 368 — Forbigcr, ad Lvcret., i., 977.) — Speculantur aquas et 
nubila cadi. The suddenness and rapidity of the flight of bees to- 
wards the hive often afford a hint, to the observer of their proceed- 
ings, that a storm is at hand, of which he has received no intima- 
tion from any other quarter. That bees can foresee bad weather, 
is a fact beyond denial ; though we know not through the medium 
of what sense that faculty is exerted. We are often surprised to 
find, even with a promising appearance of the sky, their labours sud- 
denly cease, and that those which are abroad hurry home in such 
crowds that the door is too small for their admission. But on 
strictly examining the heavens, we may discern some small and 
distant clouds, which, insensibly collecting, soon after descend in 
rain. If bees wander far from home, and do not return till late in 
the evening, it is a prognostic to be depended on, that the fol- 
lowing day will be fine ; but if they remain near their habitations, 
and be seen frequently going and returning, although no indication 
of wet should be discoverable, clouds will soon arise, and rain come 
on. {Bevan's Honey Bee, p. 104.) 

168-169. Ignavum, fucos, &c. These are the drones, or male 
bees, which, after subserving the purposes of fecundation, are ei- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 413 

ther massacred by the workers, or driven out of the hive. After the 
swarming season is over, namely, towards the end of July (in dry 
summers, sooner), a general massacre of the drones takes place. 
The business of fecundation being now completed, they are regard- 
ed as useless consumers of the fruits of others' labour. Many, 
however, appear to be merely expelled, or disabled in their wings. 
{Sevan's Honey Bee, p. 22.) 

170-175. Ac veluti, &c. The poet compares the labour of the 
bees to that of the Cyclopes in forging thunder-bolts ; and then 
speaks of the various offices which are assigned to these political 
insects in their form of government, and of the cautions they use 
in defending themselves against rising winds. — Lentis massis. " Out 
of the masses of metal rendered malleable by heating." — Taurinis. 
" Of bull's hide." — Redduntque. " And give back again." — Lacu. 
" Into the water of the trough." — Mtna. One of the workshops 
of Vulcan, according to the poets. — In numerum. " In regular ca- 
dence." 

177-179. Cecropias innatus apes, &c. " Does the innate love of 
gain prompt the Cecropian bees, each in his distinct office." By 
" Cecropian," which is here merely an ornamental epithet, is meant 
" Attic," from Cecrops, the earliest monarch of the country after 
Ogyges ; and the honey of Mount Hymettus, in the vicinity of Ath- 
ens, was celebrated throughout Greece. — Grandcevis oppida curce. 
This, of course, is mere poetry, and has no foundation in reality.— 
Munire favos. The cells containing honey in daily consumption re- 
main open ; while those which are stored for winter consumption 
are closed with wax. — Dadala. "Ingeniously constructed." 

180-183. Minores. This is true of the working bees in general, 
riot merely of the younger ones. — Crura thymo plena. " Loaded as to 
their thighs with thyme." The bees return home loaded with fari- 
na and propolis, not with the mountain or wild thyme itself. As 
regards the hollows, or baskets, on their thighs, in which they con- 
vey these, consult note on verse 1. — Pascuntur et arbuta passim, 
&c. On the subject of bee pasturage, consult Bevan, Honey Bee, p. 
25, seqq. The willow, in particular, yields an abundance of honey. 
So, also, the common lime-tree (Tilia Europcea). The kowno honey, 
in high repute, is extracted almost exclusively from the flowers of 
the lime-tree. So celebrated is this honey, that dealers are said to 
imitate it by bleaching common honey by steam. 

Casiam. Consult note on Georg., ii., 213. — Crocumque rubenlem. 
The petal of the saffron flower is purple, but the three divisions of 
the style, which are the only parts in use, are of the colour of 

Mm2 



414 NOTES ON THE GEORG1CS. BOOK IV. 

fire. — Ferrugineos. "Deep-coloured." (Consult note on Eclog., 
ii., 18.) 

184-190. Omnibus una quies operum, &c. "There is to all one 
common respite from toils, to all one common labouring."— Vesper. 
"The evening star." — Curant. "They refresh." — Sonitus. "A 
murmuring noise." — Mussant. "They hum." — Siletur in noctem, 
&c. " They are silent for the night, and a deep sleep, peculiarly 
their own, takes possession of their wearied limbs." Observe the 
force of suus ; a sleep to which they are fairly entitled, from their 
previous exertions, and one peculiar, at the same time, to so mi- 
nute a race. That the bee sleeps, seems evident from the almost 
motionless quietude of the workers, which often occurs for fifteen 
or twenty minutes together, each bee inserting her head and thorax 
into a cell, where she might be supposed to be dead, were it not 
for the respiratory movements of the segments of her abdomen. 
The drones, while reposing, do not enter the cells, but cluster be- 
tween the combs, and sometimes remain without stirring for eigh- 
teen or twenty hours. Huber says, that he has seen the workers, 
even in the middle of the day, when apparently wearied with exer- 
tion, insert half their bodies into the empty cells, and remain there, 
as if taking a nap, for half an hour or longer ; at night they regu- 
larly muster in a sleep-like silence. This state of repose may often 
be witnessed in those cells which are situated against the windows 
of a hive, where the glass forms one side of the cells. Here, du- 
ring the busy and fatiguing season of honey gathering, the bees 
may be observed lying at full length, their heads at the bottom, 
and every limb, apparently, in a state of relaxation, while their lit- 
tle bodies may be seen gently heaving by the process of respiration. 
(Erevan's Honey Bee, p. 105.) 

191-197. Nee vero a stabulis, &c. Consult note on verse 166. 
— Aut credunt coelo. " Or place any confidence in a serene sky." — 
Circum .... sub mcenibus. Voss renders this " dicht urn die Mau- 
ern;" it should rather be " ringsum an den Mauern." {Hand, Tur- 
sell., ii., p. 53.)^Et scepe lapillos, &c. " And ofttimes take up little 
stones, as boats that totter on the tossing wave take ballast." The 
ancients, not coutent with admiring the actual qualities and instincts 
of the hive-bee, imagined others to which it had no just preten- 
sions. Seeing bees flying with little gravel stones, the older nat- 
uralists (as, for example, Aristotle, whom Virgil here copies) thought 
that they did so to prevent their being carried away by the wind. 
But there can be little doubt that, in these instances, the mason-bee 
was mistaken for the hive-bee. The mason -bee collects together 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 415 

a sufficient number of grains of sand to form a heap of the size of 
a small shot, and then cements the mass together with a viscid 
liquor ejected upon it from the mouth. With the gravel and ce- 
ment it mixes a little earth, which renders the whole firmer and 
more tenacious. The little pellet of well-tempered mortar, thus 
formed, is instantly conveyed by the bee to the spot selected for 
the nest, where the foundation is formed by a circle of these little 
balls deposited in regular succession. {Insect Architecture, p. 93.) 

198-202. Quod nee concubitu indulgent, &c. The ancients seem 
to have been very solicitous to establish for the bees a character of 
inviolable chastity. As regards the true parentage of the tenants of 
the hive, consult note on verse 56. — Verum ipsa e foliis natos, &c. 
<4 But they themselves gather their young with their mouth from 
leaves and sweet herbs." By foliis the poet appears to mean the 
petals, or leaves of flowers ; or, to speak more correctly, the parts 
of fructification in flowers. Aristotle gravely states, that the ol- 
ive, the cerinthus, and some other plants have the property of gen- 
erating young bees from their purest juices ! (Hist. An., v., 22.) — 
Parvosque Quirites. " And the little citizens." A beautifully play- 
ful application of a grave term, designating the citizens of the Ro- 
man state, and here the young tenants of the hive. — Aulasque et 
cerea regno, refingunt. " And repair their palaces and waxen 
realms," i. e., by means of pollen, &c. Observe that by cerea regno, 
are meant not the mere combs, as some suppose, but the hives 
themselves. 

203-205. S<zpe etiam duris, &c. Verses 203, 204, and 205, are 
generally regarded as out of place. Since, however, no very suit- 
able place can be found to which they may be assigned, Wagner 
thinks that Virgil wrote them in the margin after the Georgics 
were completed, and that from the margin they eventually found 
their way into the text. — Duris in cotibus. " Among the flinty 
rocks." — Attrivere. " Have they bruised." The result of their 
eager and strenuous performance of duty, as stated in verse 205. 
— Ultroque animam, &c. "And voluntarily yielded up life beneath 
their burden." — Tantus amorflorum, dec. As an additional illustra- 
tion of this, it is remarked by Huber, that when the lime-tree and 
black grain blossom, they brave even the rain, depart before sun- 
rise, and return later than ordinary. 

206-209. Ergo ipsas quamvis, &c. The opinion of the ancients, 
respecting the term of the bee's life, was extremely vague and in- 
definite. The length of life allotted by them to the working bee 
was from seven to ten years. In later times, writers on bees have 



416 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

regarded it as not much exceeding a year ; but the notions of both 
ancients and moderns upon this subject have been purely conjec- 
tural. Indeed, it appears to be somewhat doubtful whether the 
length of life which the former seem to have attributed to individ- 
ual bees was not meant to apply to the existence of each bee com- 
munity ; though the language they make use of fully justifies the 
former construction, excepting in the case of Columella, who 
clearly regarded the ten years as applicable to the latter. From a 
number of experiments, Bevan infers that the life of the working 
bee is extended to about six months ; that of the drone to about 
four months. (Honey Bee, p. 108.) 

Neque enim plus septima, &c. " For neither is more than the 
seventh summer prolonged (for them)." Plus is here for plusguam. 
— Multosque per annos, &c. Compare the curious account given 
of the swarm of bees which settled under the leads of the study of 
Ludovicus Vives, in Oxford, who was appointed professor of rhet- 
oric in that University, through the influence of Cardinal Wolsey. 
He took up his residence in Corpus Christi College, where he was 
welcomed by the bees. These bees and their posterity, which 
were always known by the name of Vives's bees, kept possession 
from 1520 to 1630, in which year a decay of the leads caused them 
to be disturbed, when they were found to have stored an almost 
incredible mass of honey. — Et avi numtrantur avorum. "And 
grandsires of grandsires are numbered," i. e., they can number 
grandsires of grandsires. 

210-211. Praterea regem, &c. On the respect paid by bees 
to their sovereign, to which we have already alluded, consult Be- 
van, Honey Bee, p. 51 ; and, among the ancient writers, Mlian, v., 
11. — Plin., H. N., xi., 17. — Non sic. "Not with so much rever- 
ence." — Mgyptus. The Egyptians are well known to have held 
their monarchs in the highest veneration. (Consult Wilkinson, 
vol. i., p. 251.) — Ingens Lydia. Lydia is here called "great,"' not 
so much with reference to other nations, as to .the power and 
wealth of Crcesus, its well-known king. — Hydaspes. The Hydaspes, 
strictly speaking, is a river of India, and empties into the Indus. 
As it rose, however, in that part of the Persian territories (the 
country of Paropamisus) which bordered upon India, it is here 
called "Median" (i. e., Persian), and is meant to indicate the Per- 
sian empire generally. (Jahn, ad loc.) 

212-218. Mens omnibus una est. "There is one mind unto all," 
i. e., they all remain united. — Rupere fidem. " They have severed 
their allegiance," i. e., their society is dissolved. This, of course, 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 417 

is not true. Bees, when deprived of their queen, select one or 
more worker-eggs, and convert them into queens, by feeding them 
with what is termed royal jelly. In the mean time, the movements 
of the hive go on as usual. — Construclaque mella. "The fabric of 
their honey." — Crates favorum. " The structure of their combs " — 
Ille. The bee-monarch, or, as we would say, the bee-queen. — 
Fremilu denso. "With repeated hummings." — Stipantque frequen- 
tes. This is all perfectly true. All the wonderful tricks which 
Wildman, the bee-conjurer, performed, were effected by taking ad- 
vantage of the instinctive loyalty of bees. He made them follow 
him wherever he would, hang first on this hand, and then on that, 
or settle wherever his spectators chose. His secret consisted in 
having possession of the queen, whom they clustered round wher- 
ever he might move her. (Quarterly Review, May, 1842.) 

219-220. His signis. "From these appearances," i. e., arguing 
from these. — Esse apibus partem, &c. " That bees have a portion 
of the divine mind (within them), and draughts of ethereal intelli- 
gence." The Pythagoreans, who were followed in this by the 
Platonists and Stoics, maintained the doctrine of the " Soul of the 
World," or Anima Mundi, namely, a spirit, or essence, gifted with 
intelligence, and pervading and animating matter, and all things 
formed out of matter. Men and animals, birds and fishes, reptiles 
and insects, derived not only life and being, but a principle of intelli- 
gence also, from this great fountain. (Compare JEn., vi., 724, seqq.) 
— Haustus athcrios. Referring to the ethereal emanations from the 
great soul of the universe, which are drunk in, as it were, by men 
and animals at the hour of their birth. 

221-227. Deum ire per. " That Deity pervades." — Quemque sibi 
tenues, &c. " Each being at its birth derives for itself the slender 
beginnings of existence." — Scilicet hue reddi, &c. "That to this 
same (fountain-head) they are all subsequently given back, and, 
being decomposed, are returned (to this)." We have here the sec- 
ond part of the doctrine relative to the anima mundi, namely, that 
the principle of life and intelligence which animates the mortal 
body returns, on the death of that body, to the heavens, whence it 
originally emanated. — Nee mort.i esse locum. "And that there is (in 
its case) no room for death." The body is decomposed into its 
pristine elements, but the soul never dies. — Sed viva volare, &c. 
" But that they fly, all living, into (and become part of) the number 
of the stars, and rise up to the high heaven." The allusion is still 
to the principles of intelligence, or portions of the divine soul that 
animated the corporeal frames during the life of the latter. — Sue- 



418 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

cedere. A critic (in the Biblioth. der alten Lit. und Kunst, fasc. vii., 
p. 140) thinks that alto succedere ccelo comes in rather languidly after 
volare in sideris numerum ; it is intended, however, according to 
poetic usage, to amplify what precedes. 

228-230. Si quando sedem angustam, &c. " If at any time you 
shall open their narrow mansion, and the honeys preserved in their 
treasures." The poet now proceeds to treat of the removal of the 
combs from the hive, and of the means of guarding, on such occa- 
sions, against the anger of the bees, by injecting smoke into the 
hive. We have read angustam here, with Wagner, as in much bet- 
ter taste than augustam, which Heyne and Voss prefer. The argu- 
ment in favour of the latter reading is, that the poet had just repre- 
sented the hive as containing the palace of a sovereign, and had 
celebrated the devoted loyalty of the subjects. This, however, is 
of little weight, and will not free augustam from the charge of 
grandiloquence. — Rclines. A metaphor taken from the opening of 
amphorae, closed by a cork smeared with pitch mixed with the 
ashes of the vine, sometimes with plaster. 

Prius kaustu sparsus aquarum, &c. " First, sprinkled as to your 
person, gargle your mouth with a draught of water." The true 
reading here is extremely doubtful, in consequence of the variations 
in the MSS. The one which we have here adopted is given, how- 
ever, by the larger number, and is adopted by Heyne and Voss. In 
explaining it, we follow the latter critic. The poet directs that, be- 
fore one approaches the hive for the purpose of removing the hon- 
ey, he should cleanse his mouth carefully with water, and also 
sprinkle his person with the same element. Of all the senses of 
bees, none appears to be so acute as that of smell, and on this ac- 
count they have a particular aversion to the human breath, if in 
the least degree tainted, as also to any disagreeable odour from 
the person. 

Fumosque manu pratende sequaces. " And bear in your hand be- 
fore you the searching smoke." On these occasions, according to 
Columella (ix., 15), the person held in his hand an earthen vessel, 
containing either galbanum, or dried dung and coals of fire. At the 
end turned towards the hive was an aperture for the escape of the 
smoke, and at the other a broad opening for blowing into the ves- 
sel. The bees, impatient of the smell and thick smoke, either left 
the hive, or else clustered in the inside at the top, and thus aban- 
doned the combs to the invader. The object of this proceeding, it 
will be remembered, was not to destroy the bees, according to the 
cruel practice of modern days, but merely to remove them for a 
while, until their honeyed stores co.uld be laid under contribution. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 419 

231-235. Bis gravidos cogunt faslus, &c. " Twice (in the year) do 
they collect the abundant produce ; there are two seasons for its 
harvest," t. e., twice in the year the bees accumulate a store of 
honey ; twice in the year do men take it from the hives. Virgil 
here follows Aristotle (Hist. An., ix., 40), who says, that there are 
two seasons for making honey (7-9 tov fiiXiro^ kpyaaia), namely, 
spring and autumn. With these, according to the poet, coincide 
the seasons for taking it. Varro (R. R., in., 16, 34) mentions three 
periods for taking honey. The first of these was in the spring, at 
the rising of the Pleiades, and the honey obtained was called spring 
honey. (Geopon., xv., 5. — Plin., H. N., xi., 14, seqq.) The second 
was in August, and the honey was called ripe, or summer-honey, 
being made out of wild thyme and savory. The third period was 
about the beginning of November, when the wild or buckwheat hon- 
ey was procured. This last, however, was regarded as the poorest 
kind, and many left it to the bees for their winter consumption. 
On the other hand, Columella recommends that the spring honey- 
harvest take place in June, and even later ; and the autumnal one 
about the time of the equinox, or, as Palladius (xi., 13) says, in 
the month of October. (Voss y ad loc.) 

Taygete simul os, &c. " As soon as the Pleiad Taygete has shown 
her fair face to the earth." The Pleiades, according to Columella 
(xi., 2, 36), arise with the sun on the 22d of April, and on the 7th of 
May they rise in the morning. According to Mollweide (Comment. 
Mathemat. Philolog., p. 386), the latter rising is here meant. — Oceani. 
Homer's Oceanus is here meant, the great stream encircling the 
plane of the earth, and from which the sun and stars were supposed 
to rise, while they descended into it at their setting. — Aut eadem si- 
dus, &c. " Or when the same (star), flying from the constellation 
of the watery Fish, has descended in sadness amid the wintery 
waves." The setting of the Pleiades was on the 28th of October. 
With eadem supply stella, or Pleias. — Piscis aquosi. Martyn thinks 
that the Dolphin is meant. This constellation rises on the 27th of 
December, sooner after the setting of the Pleiades than any other 
fish delineated on the celestial sphere. Voss, also, is of opinion 
that the Dolphin is meant, but not on any astronomical grounds. 
The Pleiad sets with saddened visage, because her bright portion 
of the year is ended, and the winter is coming on. Now, since in 
Italy the winter was, for the most part, rainy, the poet merely 
names, without any special allusion to the time of its rising, a con- 
stellation that shall be a fit type of the rainy season. 

236-238. Mis ira modum supra. » They are (by nature) wrathful 



420 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

beyond measure." He now assigns a reason for the precautions 
that are to be taken when the honey is to be removed ; because 
otherwise, being animals of strong resentment, they would retaliate 
fiercely on the invaders of their hive. — Lazsce. " When provoked ;" 
more literally, "when injured." — Venerium morsibus inspirant. 
"Breathe venom into their stings." The poison, which renders 
the sting of the bee so painful, is secreted by two glands or ducts 
at the root of the sting. — Et spicvla cceca relinquunt, &c. " And, 
fixed thereto, leave their hidden stings in the veins," i. e., and, fix- 
ing themselves thereto, &c. Observe that affixes has here, in some 
degree, a middle force. As regards the fact itself stated in the 
text, consult note on verse 73. — Venis. More poetic and forcible 
than cuti would have been. — Animasque in vulnere ponunt. " And 
lay down their lives in the wound (which they inflict)." (Consult 
note on verse 73.) 

239-240. Sin, duram metuens hiemem, &c. " If, however, fearing 
a hard winter (for the bees), you shall both be sparing for the future, 
and shall compassionate their bruised spirits and shattered affairs," 
i. e. y if you shall be afraid lest the bees, in consequence of the poor 
supply of honey which they may have procured, may be about to 
pass a necessitous winter, and shall therefore take compassion upon 
their weakened state, and refrain from depriving them of any por- 
tion of their stores, &c. Even in such a case as this, according to 
the poet, it will be worth while to take some pains to preserve 
them, though we get no honey from their hive. — Metuens. We 
have adopted the reading of Voss and Heyne. The common text 
has metues, which is far less elegant. — Contusos animos et res frac- 
tas. In consequence of their poor success in collecting honey. — 
Miserabere. By compassionating is here meant sparing their little 
stock ; taking no portion of it, but leaving it all for the consump- 
tion of the bees themselves. 

241-244. At suffire thymo, &c. " Yet who will hesitate to fumi- 
gate them with thyme, and to cut away the empty waxen cells V 
i. e., yet who will hesitate to take pains to preserve them, by fumi- 
gating the hive, and thus driving off enemies from it, and by taking 
away the superfluous wax, lest the empty cells should afford room 
for noxious animals. — Suffire. This fumigation is recommended 
also by other authors. Varro says, it should take place twice or 
thrice a month. — Inanes. In consequence of the small quantity of 
honey which the bees have collected. 

Ignotus stellio. "The skulking lizard." The stellio is a small 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 421 

spotted lizard, called also a swift. The epithet ignotus refers to its 
habits of concealment, and its creeping into holes and corners. — 
Et lucifugis congesta, &c. " And chambers filled with light-shunning 
cockroaches," i. e., and cockroaches in crowded chambers. We 
have altered the pointing of this whole passage, with Wunderlich 
and Wagner, so that with cubilia we are to understand adederunt, 
and with fucus, in the next line, adedit. There is nothing very re- 
markable in this construction of cubilia, since the whole clause is 
merely employed to indicate a large number of the insects in ques- 
tion. — Immunisque scdcns, &c. " And the drone, that sits free 
from labour at the repast belonging to another," i. e., that feeds on 
the honey which the labours of the working bee have collected. As 
the drones are never seen settling on any flowers, nor laying up 
honey in the cells, they most probably feed at home, and hence 
fully answer the description here given of them by the poet. 

245-250. Crabro. The poet merely mentions the hornet ; but wasps 
as well as hornets are formidable enemies to the bees. — Imparibus se 
immiscuit armis. " Has introduced himself among them with une- 
qual arms," i. e., possessed of strength far superior to theirs. — Aut 
dirum, tinea, genus. " Or the moths, a dire race." The wax moth 
(Tinea mellonella) is a very dangerous enemy to the bees. A small 
number of these diminutive insects, having formed a settlement in 
a hive, perforate and break down the cells, and with the fragments 
construct new edifices, or galleries, for their own lodgment and ac- 
commodation. This species of moth flies only by night, and is of 
a whitish or brown-gray colour. Huber notices, also, the Sphinx 
atropos, or death's head hawk-moth, as a formidable foe. It is from 
three to five inches in length, and of proportionate size. Wherever 
moths have gained possession of a hive, it is always necessary to 
destroy the bees, or to drive them into another hive. 

Invisa Minerva. Alluding to the legend of Arachne. — Aranea. 
Moths and spiders should be watched and destroyed in an evening, 
as the former are then hovering about, and the latter laying their 
snares. — Quo magis exhausta fuerint, &c. It has been observed by 
the writers on agriculture that, if the bees have too much honey 
left them, they will be idle ; whereas, if you leave them but little, 
they will be diligent in repairing their loss. — Generis lapsi sarcire 
ruinas. " To repair the ruins of their fallen line." — Complebuntque 
foros, &c. " And will fill their rows of cells, and construct their 
receptacles from flowers." The rows of cells are here called fori, 
from their resembling the decks of a ship, tier upon tier. — Floribus 

Nn 



422 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

korrea texent. In accordance with the popular belief of the ancients, 
that the bees obtained wax from flowers. (Consult note on verse 
56.) 

251-263. Si vero, &c. The poet now speaks of the diseases of 
bees, and the remedies for the same, and hence takes occasion to 
give a beautiful description of a plant which he calls Amellus. — 
Casus. * Misfortunes." — Non dubiis signis. " By no doubtful in- 
dications," i. e., by undoubted signs. — Alius color. "A different 
colour." Varro observes, that a rough look is a sign that the bees 
are sick, unless it is about the time of their beginning to work, for 
then they look rough with labour, and grow lean. — Tristia funera 
ducunt. Aristotle only says, that the bees bring out those which 
die in the hive : rac 6' aTzodvrjcnovoae tuv /ieIittuv ekkoui^ovgiv ££«. 
Pliny, however, informs us gravely, that they accompany the dead 
bodies after the manner of a funeral procession. The carrying out 
of the bodies of the dead is confirmed by modern inquiries, and is 
one among the many instances that might be cited of the cleanli- 
ness of bees. This trait is also exemplified by their covering over 
with propolis the bodies of snails, mice, and other small animals, 
which they cannot remove. (Insect Transformations, p. 6.) 

Pedibus connexce. "With their feet drawn together." Heyne, 
imagining that this referred to several bees hanging together in 
death, like a cluster, and being aware that this was denied by apia- 
rians, supposes the reading to be incorrect, and conjectures connixce. 
But, as Wagner remarks, the poet is here speaking of individual 
bees, with their feet drawn together, as is customary in dying in- 
sects. — Ignavaque fame, &c. " Both faint with hunger, and slug- 
gish with contracted cold." Poetically said for " sluggish and con- 
tracted with cold." — Gravior. " Deeper than ordinary." — Tractim- 
que susurrant. " And they emit a long-drawn, whispering moan," 
i. c, continued, prolonged, and, at the same time, indicative of mourn- 
ing. — Frigidus ut quondam, &c. We have here three similes in 
succession, the first and second of which are imitated from Homer 
(II., xiv., 394, seqq.). — Quondam. " At times." — Ut mare sollicitum, 
&c. " As the troubled sea sounds hoarsely with its refluent wa- 
ters," i. e., when its waters are rolling in from mid-ocean, and dash- 
ing on the shore. (Compare the Homeric Kv/ia (Soda irorl xtpoov 
Hovrodev bpvvfievov, k. t. A.) — Clausis fornacibus. u Within the pent- 
up furnace." Homer merely speaks of a fire raging amid the mount- 
ain forests ; Virgil changes the simile, as if comparing the pent-up 
furnaces with the hive. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 423 

264-270. Galbaneos odores. Consult note on Georg., iii., 415. — 
Mellaque arundineis, &c. Columella says the honey should be boil- 
ed : " arundineis infusi canalibus offerunlur cibi, maxime dccocti mellis," 
&c. {Colum., ix., 15. 5.) — Ultro hortantem. "Kindly urging." — 
Fcssas. " The enfeebled bees," i. e., enfeebled with sickness. 
Supply apes. — Tunsum gallce admiscere saporem. " To mingle (with 
the honey which you introduce) the savour of pounded galls." The 
gall is an excrescence formed on the oaks in Italy, after the same 
manner that oak-apples are in England. All parts of the oak, es- 
pecially the galls, are astringent ; they are very proper, therefore, 
as a remedy for the purging to which bees are subject in the spring, 
occasioned by their feeding greedily upon spurge, after their win- 
ter penury, according to Columella. Other causes of this malady 
are mentioned by Bevan, p. 69. 

Aut igni pinguia, &c. " Or inspissated must thickened over a 
strong fire." When must was inspissated to one half, it acquired 
the name ofdefrutum. (Consult note on Georg., i., 295.) — VelPsyth- 
ia passos, &c. " Or raisins from the Psythian vine." (Consult 
note on Georg., ii., 93.) — Cecropium. Cecrops was the earliest 
king of Attica after Ogyges ; and Mount Hymettus, in Attica, was 
famous for its wild thyme. — Centaurea. "Centaury." - This plant 
was so called from the centaur Chiron, who was said to be there- 
by cured of a wound accidentally inflicted by an arrow of Her- 
cules. 

271-275. Cui nomen amello, &c. "Unto which the husbandmen 
have given the name of Amellus." Observe that cui nomen amello 
is a Graecism, and compare cui nomen asilo. {Georg., iii., 147.) 
Martyn makes the flower here meant to be the Aster Atticus, or 
purple Italian starwort, the Aster amellus of Linnaeus. {Fee, Flore 
de Virgile, p. 15.) — Namque uno ingentem, &c. " For from one 
fibrous root it sends forth a great number of stalks." Observe that 
cespes here does not signify the earth or turf, but radix cespitosa, 
that is, a root whose fibres are thickly matted together, so as to 
form a kind of turf. " Non de terra, sed de radice,^ says Philargy- 
rius. {Martyn, ad loc.) — Aureus ipse. " The disk of the flower it- 
self is of a golden hue." — Foliis. By folia are here meant the ra- 
diating petals, or the purple leaves surrounding the yellow disk of 
the flower like so many diverging rays. — Viola sublucet purpura 
nigra. The play of light, under such circumstances, observes 
Valpy, may be remarked in a piece of purple silk when a little 
crumpled. 



424 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

276-280. Nexis torquibus. " With festoons (of this flower)."— 
Tonsis in vallibus. " In pastured valleys," i. e., in valleys where 
the flocks have grazed. The shepherds, namely, gather it there 
as they follow their flocks. — Mellce. By the Mella is here meant a 
stream in the vicinity of the Mantuan territory, mentioned by Ca- 
tullus (Carm., 63). There were several others of the same name. — 
Od.ora.to Baccho. " In fragrant wine." 

281-286. Proles omnis. " The whole stock." — Genus nova stirpis. 
"The breed of a new family." — Arcadii memoranda, &c. "The 
memorable discovery of the Arcadian master." The allusion is to 
Aristaeus, son of Apollo, by the nymph Cyrene, the grand-daughter 
of the Peneus. Aristaeus was a mortal, but ascended to the dignity 
of a god through the various benefits which he conferred upon man- 
kind. He is one of the most beneficent deities in ancient mythol- 
ogy : he was worshipped as the protector of flocks and shepherds, 
of vine and olive plantations : he taught men to hunt and to keep 
bees, and averted from the fields the burning heat of the sun, as 
well as other causes of destruction. His worship prevailed in dif- 
ferent parts of Greece, and he is named in the text in connexion 
with Arcadia, where he was the protector of flocks and bees. — 
Magislri. Observe that magister here is synonymous with pastor, 
i. e., the guardian or protector of flocks. (Compare verse 317.) 

Quoque modo, &c. " And how, after bullocks have been slain, 
their corrupted gore has often already given birth to bees." (Com- 
pare, as regards insincerus, the explanation of Heyne, " corruptus ex 
putredine") The generation of bees from a putrid carcass was a 
common belief with the ancients, arising, probably, from the resem- 
blance between bees and flesh-flies, the latter being frequently 
found in great numbers preying upon carrion. Consult note on 
verse 314. 

287-290. Pellcei gens fortunata Canopi. " The fortunate nation 
of the Pellaean Canopus," i. e., the fortunate people of the Delta, in 
the land of Egypt. Canopus was a city of Egypt, a short distance 
to the west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, and 12 miles north- 
east of Alexandrea. It is called " Pellaean" from its vicinity to the 
latter city, the founder of which, Alexander the Great, was born at 
Pella, in Macedonia. Canopus, being situate in the Delta, is here 
placed poetically for the whole of that region, so highly favoured in 
point of fertility, and this fertility being wholly owing to the inun- 
dations of the Nile. — Phaselis. The small boats used during the 
inundations of the Nile. 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 425 

Qudque pharctrata, &c. " And where the river, brought down 
from the swarthy Indians, presses upon the confines of quiver- 
bearing Persia," &c. The river, supposing the text to be correct, 
is the Nile, and the poet, after having mentioned the western, or 
Canopic mouth of the stream, now turns to the eastern, or Pehi- 
siac one ; thus giving, in general language, the extent of the Delta, 
along the coast of the Mediterranean. The expression vicinia Per- 
sidis is supposed to allude to the circumstance of the Persian, that 
is, the Parthian territories extending, in one sense, to the confines 
of Egypt, the Arabians being at one time subdued by the arms of 
the Parthians, at another time in alliance with them. As to the 
Nile's rising among the Indians, it must be borne in mind that this 
latter name was applied by the ancients not merely to the inhabi- 
tants of India, but also to the people dwelling in the interior of Af- 
rica. Thus far we have given the explanation of this passage ac- 
cording to the views of Heyne, Voss, and others. Wagner, how- 
ever, rejects verses 291, 292, 293 as spurious, founding his objec- 
tions on both the sense and the Latinity of the passage, and regard- 
ing the employment of vicinia as the plural of vicinium, in the light 
of an open departure from the classical idiom. According to the 
reading which he himself adopts, vicinia is the nominative singular, 
and the subject of urguct. Wagner also makes line 299 refer, not 
to Egypt, but to Syria. 

295-298. Ipsos ad usus. " For this very purpose." — Hunc an- 
gustique, &c. " This they both cover with the tiling of a narrow 
roof, and enclose it within confining walls," i. e., cover with a nar- 
row roof of tile, and shut in with walls, confining between them a 
narrow space. Observe the zeugma in premunt. — Imbrice. Tiles 
were originally made perfectly flat ; they were afterward formed 
with a raised border on each side. In order that the lower edge 
of any tile might overlap the upper edge of that which came next 
below it, its two sides were made to converge downward. The 
following wood-cut represents a tiled roof, from a part of which the 
joint tiles are removed, in order to show the overlapping and the 
convergence of the sides. It was evidently necessary to cover the 
lines of junction between the rows of flat tiles, and this was done 
by the use of semicylindrical tiles called imbrices. 



Nn2 



426 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 




Qualuor a ventis. "In the direction of the four winds," i. e. t 
facing the four cardinal points. (Compare Zumpt, L. G., § 304, b.) 
— Oblzqud luce. "With slanting light," i. e., admitting a slanting 
and half-excluded light. 

299-302. Bima fronte. The reference is to a steer two years 
old, and just bending its horns. In the Geoponica (xv., 2, 23) it 
is called rpiaKovrdfirjvov fiovv, "an ox thirty months old." — Spiri- 
tus oris. " The breathing of its mouth," i. e., the mouth itself. — 
Obsuitur. This stopping of the nostrils and mouth is done in 
order that the animal may die the sooner under the blows in- 
flicted. According to Democritus, however (Geopon., I. c), the 
animal is to be first killed by blows, and then all the openings 
are to be stopped. — Tunsa per integrum, &c. " The crushed in- 
ner parts are reduced to a pulpy mass throughout the skin that 
remains entire," i. e., the skin that encloses them remaining entire 
and unbroken. Observe that by viscera are here meant all the 
parts beneath the skin, namely, flesh, bones, and entrails. (Com- 
pare Mn., i., 211.) 

303-307. In clauso. " Shut up." According to the directions 
given in the Geoponica, the door and windows are to be coated 
with thick mire, to allow no ingress to the external air. On the 
21st day, however, light and air are to be admitted, except from 
the quarter where the wind may blow strongly. After a sufficient 
quantity of air has been admitted, the building is to be again closed, 
and cemented as before. On the eleventh day after this, when 
you again open the door, you will find the place full of clusters of 
bees. (Geopon., xv., 2., 27, seqq.) — Ramea fragmenta. For ramo- 
rum fragmenta. — Castas. Consult note on Georg., ii., 213. 

Zephyris primum, &c. The beginning of spring is meant. Ac- 
cording to Pliny, the wind Zephyrus began to blow about the 8lh 
of February. (.H. N-, ii., 47.) — Rubeant. " Bloom." Equivalent 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 427 

to effloreant. — Hirundo. Columella says, that the swallow visits 
Italy on the 20th or 23d of February, (xi., 2, 22.) 

308-314. Interea tcneris, &c. "Meanwhile, the moisture, grow- 
ing warm in the tender bones, ferments." The epithet teneris re- 
fers to the bones as in a comminuted and dissolving state ; while 
humor, though specially connected in the text with ossibus, de- 
notes, in fact, the putrefying fluid generally that is contained with- 
in the skin of the animal. — Visenda modis miris. " Strange to be 
seen ;" literally, " to be seen in strange ways." — Trunca pedum. 
A Graecism for trunca pedibus. — Tenuemque magis, &c. " And speed 
forth more and more to the thin air." Observe that a'era carpunt 
is like viam carpunt, and is here equivalent to volant. For magis 
magis, some manuscripts read magis ac magis, giving, at the same 
time, tenuem for tenuemque. But magis magis may be defended 
by the example of Catullus (xiii., 274). — Nervo pulsante. " From 
the impelling string;" literally, "from the striking string," i. e., 
from the string striking the bow, and of course impelling the shaft. 

Before leaving this part of the subject, it may not be amiss to say 
a few words respecting the theory of spontaneous generation which 
is here advanced by the poet. Neither flies nor bees are produced 
by putrefaction ; but as flies are found about animal bodies in a 
state of decomposition, the ancients fell into an error which accu- 
rate observation alone could explode. With respect to bees, it be- 
comes even more absurd to refer their generation to putrefaction, 
when we consider that they uniformly manifest a peculiar antipathy 
to dead carcasses. This was remarked so long ago as the time of 
Aristotle and Pliny, and Varro asserts that bees never alight upon 
an unclean place, nor upon anything that emits an unpleasant smell. 
This is strikingly exemplified in their carrying out of the hive the 
bodies of their companions who chance to die there ; and in their 
covering over with propolis the bodies of snails, mice, and other 
small animals which they cannot remove. These facts, which are 
unquestionable, may, at first view, appear to contradict the Scrip- 
ture history of Samson, who, having killed a young lion in the vine- 
yards of Timnath, " after a time turned aside to see the carcass of 
the lion ; and, behold, a swarm of bees, and honey, in the carcass." 
(Judges, xiv., 8.) It only requires us, however, to examine the 
facts, to show that this does not disagree with the preceding state- 
ment. Bochart, in his Sacred Zoology, tells us, that the word ren- 
dered " carcass" literally signifies skeleton ; and the Syriac version 
still more strongly renders it a dried body. Bochart farther con- 
tends, that the phrase " after a time" is one of the commonest 
Hebraisms for M a year." But when we consider the rapid desic- 



428 NOTES ON THE GEORGIC3. BOOK IV. 

cation caused by the summer suns of Palestine, this extension of 
time will be unnecessary; for travellers tell us that the bodies of 
dead camels become quite parched there in a few days. "It is 
probable,"' says Swammerdam, " that the not rightly understanding 
Samson's adventure gave rise to the popular opinion of bees spring- 
ing from dead lions, oxen, and horses." {Insect Transformations, p. 
6, seqq.) 

315-316. Quis deus hanc, &c. The poet concludes the Georgics 
with the fable of Aristaeus, which includes that of Orpheus and 
Eurydice. This paragraph contains the complaint of Aristaeus for 
the loss of his bees, and his mother's permission to him to enter 
the watery realms, and hold communion with her. — Hanc extudit 
artem. " Struck out this art," i. e., devised or invented this art of 
producing bees. — Unde nova ingressus, &c. " Whence did this new 
experience on the part of men take its rise?' The answer to this 
question is given in the episode that follows. The inventor of the 
art in question was Aristaeus. According to Donatus, in his life of 
Virgil (x., 39), and Servius, in his commentary on the Tenth Ec- 
logue {v. 1), this whole episode respecting Aristaeus was a subse- 
quent insertion. The fourth Georgic, it seems, if we believe these 
authorities, contained originally, from the middle to the end, the 
praises of Gallus, the well-known friend of Virgil, and governor of 
Egypt under Augustus. When, however, that individual had fallen 
into disgrace, and had ended his career by suicide, Virgil, at the 
command of Augustus, erased the whole eulogium on Gallus. and 
substituted the episode of Aristaeus. Voss is inclined to doubt the 
whole story, and thinks that if any omission was actually made, it 
was merely that of an incidental compliment to Gallus, prefixed to 
the passage relating to Egypt, a country famed for this art of pro- 
ducing bees. 

317-320. Pastor Aristaeus. Compare note on Georg., i., 14. — 
Fugiens Peneia Tcmpe. "Flying from Peneian Tempe." Alluding 
to the beautiful Vale of Tempe, in Thessaly, between Ossa and 
Olympus, watered by the River Peneus. (Compare Georg., ii., 469.) 
Aristaeus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, who was the 
grand-daughter of the river god Peneus, is here represented as hav- 
ing been a dweller in the vale that was watered by the stream of 
his grandsire, until the anger of the nymphs at his having occasion- 
ed the death of Eurydice, and the consequent loss of his flocks and 
bees (compare verse 454, seqq.), drove him from his accustomed 
haunts. He flees, thereupon, to the head waters of the Peneus, 
and prays to his mother for relief, quitting, for this purpose, the 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 429 

valley itself, and passing over to the chain of Mount Pindus, where 
the river had its rise. 

Caput. Burmann (ad loc; ad Vol. Flacc, v., 351 ; ad Lucan., ii., 
52), De la Malle (ad Val. Flacc, vol. ii., p. 495), Weichert (Com- 
ment, de turgido Alpino, p. 6), and Jahn, all think that the mouth of 
the river is here meant, than which nothing can be more erroneous. 
(Consult Bekker, Eleg. Rom., p. 39, and Voss and Heyne, ad loc.) 

321-328. Gurgitis hujus. " Of this bubbling fountain." Refer- 
ring to the spring-head, or sources of the stream, bubbling forth 
from among the rocks and whirling away in eddies. The sources 
of rivers were the fabled abodes of the river god and other divini- 
ties of the stream. — Quern perhibes. " Whom thou makest to be 
such," i. t., as thou maintainest. — Thymbr&us Apollo. " The Thym- 
braean Apollo." This deity was so called from Thymbra, a plain in 
Troas, through which a small river, called Thymbrius, flows in its 
course to the Scamander. He had a temple here, and in it Achilles 
is said to have been mortally wounded by Paris. 

Quid me cadum, &c. The sons of the Nymphs, even though a 
god were their father, were mortal ; as, for example, Orpheus, Poly- 
phemus, &c. They might, however, be deified for their merits, 
and translated to the skies. — Hunc ipsum vita mortalis honorem. 
Referring to the high reputation which he had acquired among 
men, from his successful culture of the fields, and his care of cattle 
and bees. — Frugum. The productions of the earth in general, 
grain and fruits. — Pecudum. The idea of bees appears to be inclu- 
ded in this. — Te matre. " Though thou art my mother." — Relinquo. 
"I am abandoning." 

329-332. Et ipsa manu, &c. In his despair, he bids his mother 
complete the evil work left unfinished by the Nymphs. — Felices sil- 
vas. " The productive groves." Referring to the orchards of fruit- 
trees, the clumps of olives, &c. — Interface messes. "Destroy the 
crops." Observe here the employment of inter ficio in the case of 
inanimate things. Nonius (vi., 9) cites a parallel instance from 
the GEconomics of Cicero: " herbas arescere et interfici." — Messes. 
Referring to the gathered stores of grain, hay, &c. — Ure sata. 
" Consume with fire my plantings." Sata refers alike to the sown 
corn and to the young trees planted out as supports for the vines. 
— Molire. " Ply." — Bipennem. Equivalent here simply to securim. 
Strictly speaking, however, bipennis means a battle-axe, that is, a 
species of axe having a blade or head on each side of the haft. 

333-335. At mater, &c. His mother Cyrene is represented as 
sitting in an apartment of the palace of Peneus, far away amid the 



430 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

deep waters of the stream at its fountain-head, and hearing only in 
an indistinct manner the supplication of her son. — Thalamo sub flu- 
minis aid. " Far away in a chamber of the deep river ;" literally, 
" beneath a chamber,'' i. e., deep in a chamber. — Milesia vellera car- 
pebant. "Were carding the Milesian fleeces," i. e., Milesian wool. 
This belonged to the choicest kind among the Greeks. (Compare 
note on Georg., hi., 306.) — Hyali saluro fucata colore. "Dyed of a 
saturating, glass-green colour," i. e., dyed through and through. 
(Compare Heyne, " Saturo, hyali quo ipsa vellera saturata sunt.") 
The epithet hyalis is of Greek origin, this being one of the technical 
terms brought in by the Greeks with the knowledge of their arts 
and manufactures. The Greek term for glass is valoc, and the 
green colour mentioned in the text suits, of course, the case of a 
marine deity. 

336-344. Drymoque, Xanthoque, &c. The ancient poets were 
fond of such enumerations as these, both on account of the air of 
erudition which it imparted, and also from the pleasing effect pro- 
duced on an ancient ear by the various meanings of the names 
themselves, as indicated by their etymologies. Most of this is lost 
for us. The names here given are imitated, in part, from Homer 
(//., xviii., 37, seqq. — Compare Hymn, in Cer., 418, seqq. — Hesiod, 
Theog., 264, seqq., 240, seqq., &c.) — 338. This verse is not found in 
the best MSS., nor in very many others. Brunck and Wagner both 
regard it as spurious. It is supposed to have been removed hither 
from JEn., v., 826. We have, therefore, enclosed it within brack- 
ets. — Flava. "Golden-haired." — Oceanitid.es. " Daughters of Oce- 
anus." These are the only two Oceanides mentioned on the 
present occasion. The rest are Nereids. The whole number of 
Nereids was 50 ; of Oceanides, 3000. (Apollod., i., 2, 2, 7.) 

Ambce auro, &c. " Both girt with gold, both with spotted skins," 
i. e., with golden zones and the variegated skins of wild animals 
killed by them in the hunt. — Asia De'iopea. " The Asian Deiopea." 
The epithet " Asian" here refers to that portion of Lydia which 
was watered by the Cayster. (Compare note on Georg., i., 383.) — 
Et, tandem positis, &c. Another huntress nymph is here men- 
tioned, who now sits employed at the spindle, her arrows being 
laid aside. (Compare note on Eclog., x., 1.) 

348-356. Dum fusis mollia pensa, &c. "While they wind their 
soft tasks around the spindles," i. e., the soft wool which they had 
tasked themselves to card and then wind off. The wool, flax, or 
other material having been prepared for spinning, was rolled into a 
ball, which, however, was sufficiently loose to allow the fibres to be 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 431 

easily drawn out by the hand of the spinner. The upper part of 
the distaff was then inserted into this mass of wool or flax, and 
the lower part was held under the left arm, in such a position as 
was most convenient for conducting the operation. The fibres 
were drawn out, and, at the same time, spirally twisted, chiefly by 
the use of the forefinger and thumb of the right hand ; and the 
thread so produced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity 
was as great as it would carry. The accompanying wood-cut 
shows the operation of spinning at the moment when the woman 
has drawn out a sufficient length of yarn to twist it by whirling the 
spindle with her right thumb and forefinger. 




Vitreisgue sedilibus. " In their glassy seats." The abodes of the 
marine deities are adorned with seats, and other articles either of 
use or ornament, formed out of crystal, amber, coral, &c. — Ante pro- 
spiciens. " Looking forth beyond." — Sorores. Not to be taken in 
too strict a sense, but intended to apply to all the nymphs assem- 
bled there, as well Nereids as Oceanides. — Non frustra. " Not 
without reason." — Penei gcnitoris. " Of thy sire Peneus." 

357-361. Nova formidi?ie. " With the sudden alarm." Equiva- 
lent to repentino terrore. — Qua juvenis gressus inferret. " Where 
the youth might enter," i. e., for the youth to enter. — Curvata in 
monlis faciem. "Arched like a mountain." The waters formed a 
kind of over-arching entrance, through which the youth might de- 
scend to the subterraneous places, in which were the receptacles 
and sources of rivers, and, among these, of the Peneus itself. 

364-370. Speluncisque lacus clausos. "And the lakes enclosed 
in caverns." These are so many reservoirs for the different rivers 
on earth. — Lucosque sonantes. As the streams which flow from 



432 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

the caverns ju t mentioned proceed some distance under the earth 
before they come forth to the light of day, their banks in the world 
below are, in the language of poetry, decked with groves that re- 
echo to the roar of the waters. — Diversa locis. Poetic for diversis 
locis. m 

Phasimque. The Phasis was a river of Asia, falling into the 
Euxine, after passing through parts of Armenia, Iberia, and Col- 
chis. It is commonly called a Colchian stream. This river was 
famous in mythology, from Jason's having obtained in its vicinity 
the golden fleece. Its modern name is R1071, or Rioni, which would 
seem more properly to belong to the Rheon, one of its tributaries. 
The Turks call it the Fasch. — Lycumque. The Lycus here meant 
was a river of Pontus, emptying into the Phasis. — Enipeus. A 
river of Macedonia, in the. district of Pieria, rising in Mount Olym- 
pus. — Tiberinus. The Tiber. — A?iiena fluenta. " The streams of 
the Anio." Aniena here is from Anienus. The Anio, now the 
Tcverone, flowed into the Tiber three miles above Rome. — Saxo- 
sumque sonans Hypanis. " And the Hypanis roaring over rocks.'"' 
A river of European Scythia, now the Bog. It falls into the Bo- 
rysthenes (or Dnieper), after a southeast course of 400 miles, and 
with it into the Euxine. — Mysusque Caicus. "And the Mysian 
Caicus." The Caicus was a river of Mysia, falling into the Aegean 
Sea opposite Lesbos. On its banks stood the city of Pergamus, 
and at its mouth the port of Elaea. 

371-373. Gemina auratus, &c. " Having the visage of a bull 
gilded as to both the horns." River gods were sometimes repre- 
sented merely with the horns of a bull ; sometimes with the body 
of a bull and the head of a human being ; and sometimes, again, with 
the taurine form complete. (Muller, Archaol. der Kunst, p. 616, $ 
403.) — Eridanus. Consult note on Georg., i., 482. — In mare pur- 
pureum. "Into the dark and troubled sea." We have preferred 
rendering purpureum here by a double epithet. It is analogous to 
the Greek Troptpvpeoc, as said of the troubled sea, whence (3ioc nop- 
(pvpovc daXdootoc, " a seaman's troublous life." (Eur. Sthen.,4:.) 

374-379. Postquam est in thalami. &c. " After he had come un- 
der the roof of the chamber hanging with pumice-stone." The 
reference is to a subterranean cave, eaten out of the pumice-rock, 
and fashioned like a chamber. — Cognovit. " Became acquainted 
with," i. e., learned from him their cause. — Inanes. Occasioned 
by so slight a misfortune. — Pontes. Toraquam. — Germane. "Her 
sisters." — Tonsis villis. " With the nap shorn off," i. e., smooth. 
— Reponunt. "Place anew thereon," i. e., after having been pre- 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 433 

viously emptied. (Compare Wagner, Quast. Virg., xxxxi.) — Pan- 
chcEts adolcscunt ignibus ara. " The altars blaze high with Pan- 
chaean fires," i. e., are heaped up with blazing incense. Equivalent 
to ara cumulantur thure incenso. (Compare Voss and Jacobs, ad loc. 
Consult, also, as regards the expression " Panclmis ignibus" the 
note on Georg., ii., 139.) 

380-383. Mceonii carchesia Bacchi. " Bowls of Mafionian wine." 
Maeonian is here equivalent to " Lydian," and the reference is to 
the wine of Tmolus, a mountain of Lydia. This wine being of a 
superior quality, is here put for excellent wine in general. (Con- 
sult note on Georg., ii., 98.) The carchesium was a beaker, or drink- 
ing-cup, used by the Greeks in very early times. It was slightly 
contracted in the middle, and its two handles extended from the 
top to the bottom. It was much employed in libations. The an- 
nexed wood-cut represents a magnificent carchesium, presented by 
Charles the Simple to the Abbey of St. Denys. 




Oceanumque patrem rcrum. Not in imitation of Homer (II., xiv., 
246), as some suppose, but drawn probably from the philosophic 
dogmas of the Ionic school, and implying that water is the primary 
element of all things. (Consult Hcyne, ad loc.) — Nymphasque so- 
rores. Her sister-nymphs generally deriving their common origin 
from Oceanus. —Centum. A definite for an indefinite number, as 
in Mn., vi., 786, "centum complexa nepotes." The Oceanides, ac- 
cording to Hesiod, were, as already remarked, 3000 in number. — 
Servant. " Inhabit." Compare verse 459. 

384-386. Nectare. Cyrene, as a goddess, drinks nectar, and 
pours the same upon the flames of the altar ; her mortal guest, 
Aristaeus, pours after her the Maeonian wine. (Consult Voss, ad 
loc.) — Vestam. For ignem. — Subjecta. In a middle sense, for sub- 
jiriens se. " Mounting." — Omine quo. The flame, thrice rising to 

Oo 



434 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

the roof, gave a favourable omen. (Valpy, ad loc.) — Firmans ani- 
mum. " Confirmed in mind." 

387-389. Carpathio gurgite. The Carpathian Sea was adjacent 
to the Island of Carpathus, which latter lay between Rhodes and 
Crete. Virgil here imitates a similar fable in the Odyssey (iv., 
364), where Menelaus attacks Proteus in the Island of Pharos, 
and learns from him the fortune that is to attend his return to his 
native country. — Piscibus et juncto, &c. " With fishes, and with 
his chariot having two-legged coursers joined to it." Equivalent 
to curru piscibus et equis bipedibus juncto. The chariot of Proteus is 
here represented as drawn by a species of marine coursers, having 
their fore parts shaped as horses, their hinder as fish. 

390-391. Hie nunc Emathice, &c. In assigning Proteus an abode 
in the Carpathian Sea, Virgil imitates Homer ; for the Island of 
Carpathus faces Egypt, and Homer makes him dwell in the Isle of 
Pharos. In this latter part, however, where mention is made of 
Emathia and Pallene, our poet follows some earlier legend, prob- 
ably an Orphic one. — Emathice. Macedonia is meant, of which 
country Emathia was the more ancient name. (Compare note on 
Georg., i., 492.) — Pallenen. Pallene was a peninsula of Macedonia, 
one of the three belonging to the district of Chalcidice. From this 
peninsula Aristaeus had not far to travel before he reached the sour- 
ces of the Peneus. 

392-395. Grandavus. An epithet applied with great propriety 
to Nereus, as being one of the most ancient of the gods. (Com- 
pare Hesiod, Theog., 233.) — Qua mox venlura trahantur. "What 
may be getting drawn onward (by the fates) as presently about to 
happen." There is no need whatever of construing trahantur here 
in a middle sense, as Voss directs. — Quippe ita Neptuno visum est. 
The poet means, that Proteus received this gift of prophecy from 
Neptune. He would either seem, therefore, to follow the mytholo- 
gical authority of those who made Proteus the son of that deity, or 
else to have neglected the commonly received legend, which as- 
signed to Proteus an origin as well as honours far earlier than 
those of Neptune. 

Immania armenta. Referring to the various monsters of the deep. 
The phocce form part of these. — Turpes. "Ugly." — Pascit. The 
poets always assign to Proteus the task of keeping the sea-calves, 
or seals, as well as other marine animals. (Compare Homer, Od., 
v., 411.— Horat., Od., I, 2, 7.) 

39G-400. Ut omnem expediat, &c. " That he may explain the 
whole cause of the malady, and give a favourable turn to what has 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 435 

happened." By eventus are meant the evils that have happened to 
Aristajus in the loss of his bees, &c., while secundet implies a chan- 
ging of this evil fortune into good, by pointing out to him the way 
in which his losses may be repaired. — Nam sine vi, &c. Homer 
states, that he must be seized in order to make him discover what 
is required of him. (Od., iv., 388, 415.) — Tende. "Employ." 
Equivalent here to adhibe. — Doli circum hac, &c. "His wiles will 
be finally overcome and rendered powerless, if thou shalt do these 
things ;" literally, " around these things." Circum h<r.c is equivalent 
here to si hcec feceris. (Compare Wagner, ad Georg., ii. f 424.) — 
Inanes. Equivalent, in fact, to ut inanes sint. 

401-406. Medios cestus. " His noontide heats." — In secrcta senis. 
" To the secret haunts of the aged sea-god." Equivalent to in se- 
crctam senis sedem. — Somno jacentem. " As he lies buried in sleep." 
— Manibus vinclisque. Some MSS. have manicis for manibus ; but, 
in that case, vinclis, which follows, ought to have an epithet added 
to it. (Compare Mn., ii., 146.) — Turn varice eludent, &c. " Various 
forms and visages of wild beasts will thereupon seek to baffle thee," 
i. e., he will seek to elude thy grasp by assuming the forms of vari- 
ous wild animals. Proteus, according to the well-known legend, 
had the power of transforming himself into any shape at pleasure. 

407-414. Sus horridus. "A bristly boar." — Atra. Equivalent 
here to sceva. — Fulvd cervice. " With tawny mane." — Aut acrem 
flamma, &c. " Or he will give forth the fierce roaring of flame," 
i. e., will change himself into a fierce roaring fire. — Contende tenacia 
vincla. " Draw tightly the confining chains." — Donee talis erit, &c. 
Until he resume the form under which Aristaeus found him sleeping. 

415-418. Liquidum ambrosia, &c. This was done in order to 
impart fresh strength and vigour to the youth, and enable him, con- 
sequently, to secure the sea-god. — Perduxit. For induxit. — Dulcis 
aura. "A sweet perfume." — Habilis. "Fitting," i. e., rendering 
him fit for executing the intended enterprise. 

419-424. Quo plurima vento, &c. " Whither very many a wave 
is driven in by the wind, and divides itself into receding curves." 
The reference is to the curvature of the broken waves after they 
have been dashed back. (Compare Mn., i., 160.) — Deprensis ohm, 
&c. " A very safe station sometimes for mariners overtaken by a 
tempest." Heyne thinks the meaning of the poet to be this, that 
the vessels which run in for shelter cast anchor in a kind of bay, at 
the extremity of which is the cave in question. Voss adopts the 
same view. 

Objice. " By means of the opposing barrier." The prose form 



436 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

of expression would be objectu. — Aversum a lumine. u Concealed 
from the light," i. e., in a part of the cave to which the light from 
the entrance did not penetrate. — Nebulis obscura. " Shrouded in a 
misty cloud. ""• As a goddess of the waters, she envelops herself 
in such a mist as is accustomed to rise from their surface. — Rcsis- 
tit. " Takes her station." 

425-428. Jam rapidus torrens, &c. " Now vehement Sirius, 
scorching the thirsting Indi, was blazing in the sky, and the fiery 
sun had finished half his course." Here the poet employs a beauti- 
ful circumlocution to express the middle of one of the hottest days 
in summer. Sirius, a star of the first magnitude, in the mouth of 
the Dog, rises about the time of the sun's entering into Leo, to- 
wards the latter end of July, bringing with it what we call the dog- 
days, the hottest season of the year, and during which the heat is 
particularly intense in Egypt and along the coast of Africa. The 
poet shows it to be the time of noon, by saying that the sun had 
finished the half of his course. All these words, rapidus, torrens, 
sitientes, lndos, ardebat, igncus, are expressive of great heat. He 
enlarges on the idea by representing the grass burned up, and the 
rivers boiled to mud. It was the violent heat that caused Proteus 
to retire into the cave, where he would be the more easily surpri- 
sed, being fatigued and disposed to slumber. {Martyn, ad loc.) 

Et cavaflumina, &c. "And the rays of the sun were boiling to 
mud the hollow rivers warmed with their dry channels," i. e., even 
to their dry channels. The expression cava fiumina shows the effect 
of the heat in diminishing the volume of water, and thus increasing 
the height of the banks. — Faucibus. Put here for alveis. 

431-444. Rorem amarum. " The bitter spray," i. e., the drops of 
sea-water. — Diverse. " In different quarters." The prose form of 
expression would be diversis in locis. — Somno. " For sleep." The 
dative. — Vesper ubi reducit. Poetic, for ubi Me reducit vesperi. — 
Numerumque recenset. After counting his herd, as here expressed, 
Proteus lays himself down to repose. — Componere. "To adjust," 
i. e., for repose. — Occupat. " Confines him before he is aware." 
Observe the force of occupat ; literally, "anticipates him." 

Miracula rerum. "Wondrous shapes." — Fallacia. Heyne reads 
pellacia, after Heinsius. But the true lection is fallacia. Yoss cor- 
rectly maintains, that all the examples adduced by Heinsius (ad 
loc.) and by Bentley (ad Horat., Od., iii., 7, 20) merely prove what 
Servius teaches us (ad Mn., ii., 90), that pellax and pellicere are said 
of those who make use of blandishments, and, as Voss adds, of 
magic arts, for the purpose of deceiving another. On the present 






NOTES ON THE CEORGICS. BOOK IV. 437 

occasion, however, Proteus wished to terrify Aristaeus, not to al- 
lure him on. Pellacia, therefore, is not correct. — Hominis ore, &c. 
He reassumes the human face, in order that he may speak to and 
be understood, when prophesying, by Aristaeus. (Valpy, ad loc.) 

445-447. Nam quis. For quisnam, except that the position of the 
nam. before quis is intended to mark strong excitement on the part 
of the speaker. — Neque est te fallere quidquam. "Nor is it possible 
to deceive thee in aught." Observe here the employment of est, 
like the emphatic eon, in Greek, in the sense of licet, or, rather, 
dvvarov kari. Observe, also, the use of quidquam as equivalent to 
in aliqua re. We must be careful not to construe this quidquam as 
an accusative before fallere, since est for licet is not accustomed to 
be joined with the accusative before the infinitive. 

448-452. Desine velle. " Cease to wish (to impose upon me)." 
Supply fallere after velle. — Lapsis rebus. " For our ruined affairs," 
i. e., amid the ruin that has fallen upon my rural labours, especially 
my rearing of bees. — Ardentes oculos, &c. " Rolled his eyes flash- 
ing with bluish-green light." The marine deities were generally 
represented with bluish-green eyes. (Consult Voss, Mythol. Bricfe, 
vol. ii., 25.) — Fatis. "For the purpose of declaring the fates." 
(Compare Heyne, "ad edenda fata") The rolling of the eyes and 
gnashing of the teeth are mentioned by the poets as so many out- 
ward signs of prophetic inspiration. 

453-456. Non te nullius, &c. " It is not the anger of no deity 
that pursues thee," i. e., the anger of some deity is certainly pur- 
suing thee. Proteus now proceeds to intimate to Aristaeus that 
his misfortunes are all owing to the just anger of the Nymphs at 
the death of Eurydice, occasioned by his unhallowed passions, and 
to the imprecations of the bereaved Orpheus, whose descent to the 
lower world, in quest of his unhappy spouse, is then beautifully 
narrated. — Magna luis commissa. " Thou art atoning for a heinous 
offence." — Miserabilis Orpheus haudquaquam, &c. "Orpheus, plun- 
ged in wretchedness, (though) by no means on account of any desert 
of his own." The reference is, in fact, to the shade or manes of 
Orpheus, whose death had .occurred previously to the time when 
these words are supposed to have been spoken. — Ni fata resistant. 
"Unless the fates oppose," i. e., unless it happen that by proper 
expiations thou avert the punishment that hangs over thee. — Rap- 
ta. Equivalent, as Voss and Wunderlich correctly remark, to mor- 
te erepta. 

457-463. Dum te fugeret per flumina prceceps. " Rushing with 
headlong speed along the river's bank, provided only she could es- 
O o 2 



438 NOTES ON THE GEOKGIC3. BOOK IV. 

cape from thee." Observe the force of dum with fugeret. — Servan- 
tern ripas. " Occupying the margin of the stream ;" literally, 
" guarding" it, i. e., occupying it in such a way that no one could 
pass by without being attacked by it. — Chorus aqualis Dryadum. 
"The chorus of Dryads with her brought up." Put for chorus 
eequalium Dryadum. — Supremos monies. " The summits of the 
mountains." Observe the poetic usage of supremos for summos. 

Rhodopeia arces. "The heights of Rhodope." (Consult note on 
Eclog., vi., 30.) The lamentations of the nymphs are heard, ac- 
cording to the speaker, throughout the whole of Thrace. Rhodope 
and Pangaeus, Thracian mountains, are first mentioned ; Thrace 
itself is then named under the appellation of the " martial land of 
Rhesus," the Thracian monarch who in later days led his forces to 
Troy ; the Getap, by a species of poetical geography, are next in- 
cluded in the account as a Thracian tribe ; then the Hebrus, a 
Thracian river, is mentioned ; and the enumeration closes at last 
with an allusion to Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas to 
Thrace. 

Pangcea. Pangaeus was a celebrated ridge of mountains in 
Thrace, apparently connected with the central chain of Rhodope 
and Haemus, and now called Pundhar Dagh. The Greek form of 
the name is Uayyalov {scil. opoc), and, in the plural, Uayyala (scil. 
opn), which Virgil here follows, as indicating the entire range. — 
Getce. Consult note on Georg ., iii., 462. — Hebrus. A large river 
of Thrace, now the Maritza, rising in Mount Scomius, and falling 
into the JEgean near the city of iEnus. — Actias Orithyia. " The 
Attic Orithyia." Attica was called at an early period Acte ('A/cn/), 
from its extent of shore, a name which remained among the poets 
after it had been superseded in common use by the term Attica. 
Orithyia was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Attica, and had 
been carried off to Thrace by Boreas. 

464-470. Solans. "Striving to solace." — Solo in littore. "On 
the solitary shore." — Te veniente die, &c. Observe here the beau- 
tiful effect produced by the repetition of the pronoun, and consult 
the remarks of Wagner, ad Eleg. ad Messal , p. 13. — Tanarias fau- 
ces. " The jaws of Taenarus." Taenarus was a promontory of 
Laconia, forming the southernmost point of the Peloponnesus. It 
is now Cape Matapan. Near it was a cave, said to be one of the 
entrances to the lower world, and through which Hercules dragged 
Cerberus to the upper regions. — Et caligantem nigra, &c. " And 
the grove all pitchy dark with black horror." The grove of the 
lower world, through which having passed, he came to the Cocy. 






NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 439 

tus, over which stream, and the nine-times encircling Styx, Charon 
ferried him to the dwelling-place of the dead. (Voss, ad loc.) — 
Mansuescerc. " How to relent." 

471-484. Cantu commota. " Aroused by the strain." The shades 
of the departed came flocking forth to hear the bard. — Ibani. 
" Came forth." Observe the force of the imperfect in denoting the 
constant flocking forth of numbers. — Quam multa in foliis, &c. 
Compare JEn., vi., 309, seqq. — Matres, alque viri, &c. This line, 
and the two lines that follow, occur again in the ^Eneid, vi., 306, 
seqq. — Quos circum, &c. " Whom on every side the black mire 
and squalid reeds of the Cocytus, and the hateful fen, with its slug- 
gish water, confines, and the Styx, nine times poured between 
them (and the upper world), restrains." The Cocytus and the Styx 
keep the shades from returning to the upper world ; the former a 
sluggish and miry stream, and therefore not unaptly called in the 
text a mere fen ; the latter nine times encircling the regions of 
Erebus. — Quin ipsa, stupuere, &c. " The very abode, too, and in- 
most Tartarus of Death stood astonished at the sound," i. e., the 
very abode itself of Death, in the lowest depths of Tartarus. 

Tenuitque inhians, &c, "The gaping Cerberus also restrained 
his three mouths," i. e., Cerberus also restrained the barking of his 
distended triple jaws. The earlier poets assigned to Cerberus fifty, 
or a hundred heads, the later ones but three. His abode was on 
the farther bank of the Styx, where Charon landed the dead. — At- 
que Ixionii vento, &c. " And the whirling of Ixion's wheel stopped, 
together with the wind that had impelled it." Various explana- 
tions have been given of this passage. We have adopted the one 
that appears most natural. On the arrival of Orpheus in the lower 
world, when seeking for his lost Eurydice, the sweetness of his 
strains produced a momentary cessation even in the punishments 
inflicted on the damned. 

485-491. Jamque, pedcm re f evens, &c. The poet proceeds to re- 
late the return of Eurydice to the light, the unhappy impatience of 
Orpheus to gaze at her, his lamentations for his second loss, and 
the miserable death that he encountered ; which concludes the 
speech of Proteus. — Casus. "Dangers." — Veniebat. "Was fast 
approaching." — Manes. "The gods below." — Jam luce sub ipsa. 
" When now on the very threshold of the light." — Vicfusque animi. 
"And completely overcome in feeling," i. e., by fond affection. A 
Graecism for virtus animo. 

492-493. Effusus. " Was completely thrown away," i. e., proved 
fruitless. (Compare the Greek kKKexvfievoc.) — Immitis tyranni fee- 



440 NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 

dera. "The compact made with the cruel tyrant," i. e., the condi- 
tions imposed by Pluto, namely, that he should not look back upon 
his recovered spouse until he reached the confines of the kingdom 
of darkness. — Terque fragor, &c. "And a loud crash was thrice 
heard from the stagnant waters of Avernus," i. e., a loud peal of sub- 
terranean thunder was thrice heard from the lower world. 

495-503. Quis tantus furor 1 "What so great phrensy is this?" 
i. e., what mighty madness prompted thee thus to look back upon 
me? — Fata vocant. The thunder was the signal of her recall — 
Condit. "Is sealing up." — Non tua. "No longer thine" — Ceu 
fumus in auras, &c. " As smoke, mingled with, (melts away) into 
thin air." Supply fugit. — Diversa. " In an opposite direction," i. 
e., back to the lower world, or, in a direction opposite to that in 
which they were proceeding. — Prensantem nequidquam umbras. 
" Grasping in vain at shadows." — Fraterea. " After this." — Objec- 
tarn paludem. " The interposing fen." 

506-516. Ilia quidcm Stygid, &c. Heyne, Meierotto, and Wag- 
ner all regard this verse as interrupting the continuity of the nar- 
rative, and, therefore, quite out of place. It belonged, they think, 
probably to some other poem, by a different author, on this same 
subject, and having been written by some one on the margin of a 
manuscript, gradually found its way into the text. There can be 
no doubt, however, if we examine the context closely, that the line 
in question is genuine. The connecting link between it and the 
verses that immediately precede is sufficiently plain. After the 
questions, "What could he do?" &c, we must merely supply in 
mind as follows : " He saw but too clearly that nothing whatever 
could now be done," and then the line follows naturally enough, 
"she indeed, was already," &c. — Frigida. "Cold in death." 
. Ex ordine. " In succession." — Strymonis. Consult note on Georg., 
i., 120. — Hcec evolvisse. " To have unfolded these, his sorrows." 
(Valpy, ad loc.) — Agentem. " Leading along." — Qualis populcd, &c. 
" As the mourning nightingale, beneath some poplar's shade." The 
poplar is selected here by the poet with great propriety, since its 
leaves, trembling with the least breath of air, make a sort of mel- 
ancholy rustling. Virgil has been criticised for representing the 
nightingale singing by night, in the shade ; but, as Voss remarks, the 
term umbra well expresses the deeper darkness under the foliage 
of the tree, on a clear, starlight night. — Durus. " Hard-hearted." 
— Integrat. "Reiterates." 

517-522. Hyperboreas. Put simply for Boreales. There is no 
allusion here to geography, not even that of a mythic nature. Or- 



NOTES ON THE GEORG1CS. BOOK IV. 441 

pheus is merely supposed to wander through the wide-spread re- 
gions of Thrace. — Tanaim. The ancient Tanais answers to the 
modern Don. — Rhipais. Consult note on George i., 240.— Lustra- 
bat. " Wandered over." (Compare Eclog., x., 55.) — Atque irrita 
Ditis dona. " And Pluto's unavailing gift." 

Spretce Ciconum quo munere matres. " By which display of conju- 
gal affection, the mairons of the Cicones, (fancying themselves) de- 
spised." According to the meaning here given to this passage, 
which is adopted from Heyne, we must regard munere as equivalent 
to pietate in conjugem. Many different explanations, however, are 
given by commentators ; and, in all probability, the passage, as it 
now stands, is corrupt, since the employment of munere in the sense 
which we have adopted from Heyne is extremely harsh. Wagner 
ingeniously conjectures pro munere, i. e., as a remuneration, or re- 
turn, for his neglect. — Ciconum. The Cicones were a people of 
Thrace, on the seacoast, near the spot where Maronea stood in a 
later age, 

523-524. Marmored cervice. "His alabaster neck." — (Eagrius. 
The Hebrus is here called CEagrian, from GEagrus, king of Thrace, 
and father of Orpheus, According to a poetic legend, the head of 
Orpheus was cast by the waves, along with his lyre, on the shore 
of Lesbos, near the city of Methymna. Meanwhile, harmonious 
sounds were emitted from the mouth Of Orpheus, accompanied by 
the notes of the lyre, the strings of the latter being gently moved 
by the breeze. The Methymneans, therefore, buried the head, and 
suspended the lyre in the temple of Apollo ; and, as a recompense 
for this, the god bestowed upon them a talent for music, and the 
successful culture of this and the sister art of poetry. The night- 
ingales, too, were said to sing most sweetly in the quarter where 
the head of the bard was interred. (Hygin., Poet. Astron., ii., 7. — 
Antig. Caryst.-, 5.) 

529-531. Spumantem undam sub vertice torsit. "He caused the 
foaming water to revolve in whirling eddy." Observe that sub ver- 
tice is here equivalent to ita ut vortex fteret. Martyn renders sub 
vertice " about his head," which is altogether incorrect. — At non 
Cyrene. "But not so Cyrene," i. £., but Cyrene did not, in like 
manner, cast herself into the waves. The nymph remains by her 
son ; and, as Proteus had merely explained to him the cause of the 
ruin that had befallen his bees, &c, the mother now directs her son 
to offer sacrifices to the offended nymphs, and to appease the manes 
of Orpheus and Eurydice. Aristaeus follows her instructions, and 
is surprised to see a swarm of bees come forth from the carcasses 
of the oxen offered in sacrifice. 



442 NOTES ON THE GEORG1CS. BOOK IV 

532-536. Hinc. " On this account." — Ilia. Referring to Euryd- 
ice. — Tende. " Offer ;" literally, "stretch forth." — Et f miles 
venerare Nap&as. "And propitiate by suitable worship the dell- 
nymphs, easy to appease." The Napauz are the nymphs of the dells, 
or woodland vales. The term is of Greek origin, Ncnralai, from 
vaiT7], " a woody dell or glen." — Votis. " To thy prayers." 

538-545. Eximios. " Chosen." An epithet specially applied to 
victims, because in sacrifice the best were always selected. (Com- 
pare Macrob., Sat, iii., 5 ; and Drakenb., ad Liv., vii., 37, 1.) — Lycczi. 
Consult note on Eclog., x., 15. — Intacta. Supply jugo. — Aha ad 
delubra. Alluding to the steps by which they ascended to the tem- 
ples. — Demitte. " Cause to fall." — Desere. " Leave." — Nona Au- 
rora. The poet may possibly have been thinking of the Sacra 
Novemdialia, or offerings to the dead, nine days after the funeral ; 
answering to the Greek ra Ivvara. — Inferias Orpkei, &c. "Thou 
wilt offer Lethean poppies as a funeral oblation unto Orpheus." 
Observe that Orphei is here the dative, and compare Eclog., iv., 
57. The poppies were intended, as Philargyrius remarks, to in- 
duce, on the part of the shade of Orpheus, an oblivion of the past. 
-*-Mittcs. The offerings to the dead were thrown or poured upon 
the grave ; and, when a grave was wanting, as in the present case, 
into a trench dug for that purpose. Hence the peculiar force of 
mittes here. 

546-547. Et nigram mactabis ovem, &c. We have transposed 
this line and the one that follows, with Wagner and other editors, 
on the authority of the best MSS. Heyne thinks the verse Placa- 
tam Eurydiccn, &c, to be spurious, and Jacobs agrees with him. 
Brunck, on the other hand, seeks to defend it, observing : " Con- 
sentaneum erat, Aristaeum Eurydices, cui causa mortis fuer at, umbram 
placare, haud minus quam Orphei;" to which Wagner replies : " Si 
consentaneum, certe non necessarium." (Compare verse 454, seqq.y — 
Revises. Voss, who is one of those that make the transposition 
just referred to, reads revisens, on the authority of one of his MSS. 
But this authority is too slight. 

548-558. Facessit. " He quickly proceeds to execute." — Excitat. 
" He raises." For erigit.—Monetrum ! " A prodigy."— Liquefacta. 
" The decomposed." — Viscera. Consult note on line 302.— Stridere. 
The old stern-conjugation, with short penult. So effervere. in this 
sameline. (Compare Georg.,l, 456.) — Nubes. "Cloud-like swarms." 
— Confluere. " To settle." — Et lentis uvam, &e. " And to hang like 
clusters of grapes from the bending boughs." With v.vam, compare 
tlie Greek porpvSdv (27., u., 89). 



NOTES ON THE GEORGICS. BOOK IV. 443 

559-562. Hac super arvorum cultu, &c. Heyne and others suspect 
the whole of this paragraph (from 559 to 566) to be spurious, and 
an addition merely of some grammarian. Wagner, however, de- 
fends it very successfully, and thinks it well worthy, in point of 
elegance, of coming from Virgil's pen. The objection which is 
made to the Latinity of super, as used for de, is easily met by a ref- 
erence to other passages of Virgil, where the same usage occurs ; 
as, for example, Mn., i., 750; iii., 348; x., 839, &c. — Pecorum. 
Bees are included under this term, as before remarked. 

Fulminat. Compare the expression fulmina belli, as applied by 
the poet to the two Scipios, in Mn., vi., 842. The time referred to 
in the text is A.U.C. 734, when Augustus made his brilliant cam- 
paign in the East, compelling the Parthians to deliver up the Ro- 
man standards ; giving a king to the Armenians ; regulating the 
affairs of the cities of Asia ; and receiving ambassadors from the 
Indi. This was the year preceding Virgil's death. — Euphraten. 
The Euphrates was at that time the boundary of the Parthian do- 
minion. — Viamque affectat Olympo. "And is striving to make for 
himself a path to Olympus," i. e., and is striving after an undying 
name. Olympo is here, by poetic usage, for ad Olympum. 

563-566. Alebat. This usage of the imperfect after a present 
(fulminat) has nothing in it contrary to correct Latinity. This is 
abundantly shown by the examples which Voss has cited ; one will 
here suffice : " Dum ea Romani parant consultantque, jam Saguntum 
summa vi oppugnabatur." (Liv., xxi., 7.) — Parthenope. The earlier 
and poetic name of Neapolis, or Naples. Virgil was residing in this 
city at the time, and engaged in giving the last correction to the 
present poem. — Ignobilis oti. " Of inglorious ease," i. e., far away 
from war and public affairs. When Virgil speaks of himself here 
as sludiis florentem, the meaning intended to be conveyed is, that he 
derives reputation from these pursuits, inglorious though they be. 
— Carmina qui lusi, &c. The Eclogues had been begun by Virgil 
when about twenty-six years of age, and finished when about thirty- 
three. (Valpy, ad loc.) 



ME TRIC AL INDEX. 



ECLOGUE I. 

Line _ 

39. Tltyrus hinc abe| rat. Ips\m te, Tityre, pinus. 

(aberat. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
50. Non w\sucta grav\es tentabunt pabula fetas. 

{The u in insueta to be sounded as our w. 1 ) 



ECLOGUE II. 

24. Ampblon Dlrceeus In Actaj|d ilmjcyntho. 

(Actaeo. Consult note*) 
53. Addam cerea | pruna hon\os erit hulc quoque porno. 

(prima: Short vowel left unelidcd. 3 ) 
65. Te C6ryd|o« O „47|exi trahit sua quemque voluptas. 

(0. Consult note.*) 



ECLOGUE III. 
6. Et succus peco[u It j lac subducltur agnls. 
(Pecorl. Consult note. 5 ) 
63. Munera sunt laujn et | suave rubens hyaclnthus. 

(laurl. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 24.) 
79. Et longum formose val|e vale \ inqult Iolla. 

(Vale. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 65 ) 
96. Tityre, pascentes a flumine | relce ca|pellas. 
(relce. Synaresis for rejice, i. e., reiice.) 

1. Consult Anthon's Latin Prosody, ed. 1842, p. 26. 

2. One of the component short vowels of the long vowel o is cnt off before the in- 
itial vowel of the next word, and then the remaining one, being in the arsis of t' I 
foot, is lengthened by the stress of the voice. 

3. A short vowel is very rarely left unelided. Tfie only two instances of this in 
ViTgil are the present line and JEn., i., 405, and in both cases there is a pause after 
the word ending with the short vowel, so that in repeating the line the effect would 
not be disagreeable. 

4. One of the component short vowels of the long o is cut off before the initial 
vowel of the next word, but the remaining one, being in the thesis, not the arsis of 
the foot, remains short. Compare note 2. 

5. Same principle as stated in note 2. 

Pp 



446 METRICAL INDEX. 

Line 

97. Ips' ubi tempus e\rit 5mn\es in fonte lavabo. 
(eiit. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 24.) 



ECLOGUE IV. 
55. Non me carmlmbus vlncet nee Tbracius | Orpheus. 

(Orpbeus. A dissyllable, eus being a diphthong.) 
57. Orphel | Calliopea, Lino formosfis Apollo. 

(Orphel. A dissyllable, el being a diphthong.) 
61. Matri longa de\cem tu.ler\xint fastldia menses. 

(tulerunt. Systole. 1 ) 



ECLOGUE VI. 
30. Nee tantiim Rbodope mlrantur et Ismarus | Orphea. 

(Orphea. A dissyllable, ea being contracted into one syllable 
by synceresis.) 
42. Caucasiasque refert volucres, furtumque PTo\methei. 

(Promethel. A trisyllable, the last syllable el being a diphthong.) 
44. Clamassent ut Httus Hylja HyZa | omne sonarent. 

(Hyla, as a Greek vocative from a nominative in as, has the final 
vowel long ; in the present case, however, the long final a in 
the first Hyla loses one of its component vowels before the in- 
itial syllable of the second Hyla, but then the remaining short 
vowel is lengthened again by the arsis ; in the second Hyla. 
the long final a again loses one of its component vowels before 
the initial vowel of the next word, but then the remaining short 
vowel, not being in the arsis, remains short.) 
53. file latus niveum molll fult|tls Aya|cinth6. 

(fultus. Last, syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
78. Aut ut muta f ,6s Te|rez narr|averit artus. 

(Terel. A dissyllable, el being a diphthong by synceresis.) 



ECLOGUE VII. 
7. Vlr gregis Ipse cap]er deerr] averat ; atque ego Daphnin. 

(deerraverat. To be pronounced derraverat, the dee being 
contracted by synceresis into de.) 
23. Versibiis Ule facj^ out | si non possiimus omnes. 
(faclt. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 

1. Consult Anthon's Latin Prosody, p. 126. 



METRICAL INDEX. 447 

Line 

53. Stant et juniper|I It | castane|<z hirs\ut&. 

(Juniperl. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 24. — Castancct. 
Same principle ; the diphthong loses one of its component 
vowels, and the remaining one is lengthened by the arsis. 
The verse, moreover, is a spondaic one.) 



ECLOGUE VIII. 

41. Ut vidi ut peri|z ut | me malus abstulit error, 
(peril. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 24.) 
44. Aut Tmaros, aut Rhodop|e out | extreml GSramantes. 

(Rhodope. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 24. The final e in 
Rhodope is naturally long, being an n in Greek, 'PodoKi].) 
55. Certent et cycnis ululSe", sit Tityrus | Orpheus. 

(Orpheus. A dissyllable, eus being a diphthong.) 
70. Carmlnibus Circe soclos mutavit \Jl\yssel.. 

(Ulyssei. A trisyllable, el being contracted into a diphthong 
by synaresis ) 
81. Uno co[demque Ignl, sic nostro Daphnis amore. 

(eodem to be pronounced as a dissyllable, eo forming one syllable 
by synceresis, and hence un' eo, a spondee.) 
108. Credimusl | an qui dm | ant IpsI sibi somnia fingunf? 
(qui. Consult note on Eclog., ii., line 65.) 



ECLOGUE IX. 

66. Desine plura pu|er et \ quod nunc Instat agamus. 
(puer. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 



ECLOGUE X. 

12. Ulla moram fecere neque AonI|e ^an|Ippe. 

(Aonie. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24. The final syllable of 
Aonie is long by nature, being an n in Greek, 'Aovcn.) 
3. Ill' etiam laur|t e^|am flevere myrlcffi. 
(lauri. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
69. Omnia vlncit am|or et \ nos cedamiis amori. 

(amor. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 



448 METRICAL INDEX. 

GEORGIC. I. 

Line 

4. Sit pecor|z apjbus quant' experientia parcis. 
(pecon. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
31. Teque slbl generum Te\ihys emat | omnibus undis. 
(Tethys. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
138. lP\eia\dds Hydd\as claramque Lycaonis arcton. 

(Pleiiadas. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
165. Vlrgea praetere|a Cele\i vlllsque supellex. 

(Celel. Three syllables, all regular, the original Greek name 
being Keheog, gen. Keleov.) 
221. Ante tib' eo\ce ^4^/|antides abscondantiir. 

(Eos'. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24, and remarks on Eclog., 
vii., 53.) 
279. Cceumqu' Iapetumque creat saeviimque Ty\phoea. 

(Typhoea. The ea forms a single syllable, by synceresis, as in 
Orphea, Eclog., vi., 30 — pho is a distinct long syllable, the 
o corresponding to the Greek cj, the name in Greek being Tv- 
Quevc.) 
281. Ter sunt conat|z im|p6nere | Pello | Ossam. 

(conati. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24. — Pelio. Consult note 
on Eclog., ii., 65.) 
295. Aut dulcls raustl VulcanS decoquit | humo- 

r' Et foliis 

(humor' Et — synapheia and elision.) 
332. Zut Atho | aut Rhoddpen aut alta Ceraunla telo. 

(Atho. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 65.) 
341. Tunc pingues ag|ni et \ tunc mollissima vina. 

(Agni. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
397. Tenuid \ nee lanie per coelum vellera ferri. 

(Tenuia. The initial syllable ten is long by position, as if writ' 
ten tenv, the u hamng here a force like that of a consonant, so 
that tenvia makes a dactyl}) 
437. Glaucb \ et ~Ps.x\b\pea et \ Inoo Meltcertje. 

(Glauco. This is an anomaly. The final long o in Glauco, 
after losing one of its component short vowels, ought to have 
the remaining one continue short, since it is in the thesis, not 
in the arsis. In all probability, therefore, the line contains a 
false reading, and for Glauco we should substitute Glaucoque. 3 
— Panopeae. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 65. The diphthong 

1. Consult Anthon's Latin Prosody, p. 120. 2. Ibid., p. 111. 



METRICAL INDEX. 449 

Line 

loses one of its vowels by elision, but the other, being in the 
thesis, remains short.) 
482. FluvTo\rmn rex Erldanus campdsque" per omnes. 

(Fluviorum. To be pronounced fluvyorum, the i being here re- 
garded as a kind of consonant, and having a sound like that 
of the English y in young, yet, &c. Hence the first syllable 
lluv becomes long by position, and. the second is to be pronoun- 
ced as if written yd. 1 Some make fluvio an anapcest, but the 
anapast is not admissible into the dactylic hexameter.) 



GEORGIC. II. 

71. Castanege (a\gus orw|usqu' Incanuit albo. 

(Fagus. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
86. Orchades et Radl|i It <z|mara pausla bacca. 
(Radii. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
121. Velleraqu' ut follls depectaot ( tenuid \ Seres. 

(tenuia. To be pronounced tenvia, the u being here regarded as 
a kind of consonant, and having the force of the English v. 9 ) 
129. Miscue\runtqa^ herbas et non Innoxia verba. 

(Miscuerunt. Systole.*) 
144. Implevere tenent ole|^ ar|mentaque laeta. 

(0]e«. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24, and, particularly, re- 
marks on Eclog., vii., 53.) 
180. Tenuis ub' \ arglll' et dumosls calculus arvls. 

(tenuis. To be pronounced tenvls. Consult remarks on line 121.) 
200. Non llqutdl greglbus fontes, non gramina — deerunt. 

(deerunt. To be pronounced derunt, by synaresis.) ' 
233. Si dee\xnnt rarum pecorlqu' et vitibus almis. 

(deerunt. To be pronounced derunt, by synaresis.) 
344. SI non tanta qules Iret frigusque ca\\orem- 
qu' Inter .... 
(caloremqu' Inter — synapheia and elision.) 
443. Navigils plnos domlbus cedrosque cu|pressos- 
qu' Hinc .... 
(cupressosqu' Hinc — synapheia and elision.) 
453. Corticlbusque cavis vltlosajqu' Illcis | dived. 

(alveo. To be pronounced alvo, by synaresis.) 



1. Consult Anthon's Latin Prosody, p. 120. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., p. 127, note. 



450 METRICAL INDEX. 

Line 

464. Illusasqu' auro vestes ephy|reza|qu' aera. 

(Ephyrela. The e is here to be pronounced separately, not to be 
formed into a diphthong with the following i. Compare the 
Greek form 'Eipvpr/Za ) 

487. Spire h^\x^squ , et vlrgirubus bacchata Lacaenls. 

(Sperchlus, with the long penult, from the Greek ^Trepxeioc.) 

488. Tayge\V 6 qui me gelidls in vallibus Haiml. 

(Tayget'. Observe the quantity here, the a being long and the 
y short, in accordance with the Greek form Tdvyera.) 



GEORGIC. III. 

44. Tai7g-e|tique canes domltrixqu' Epidaurus equoriim. 
(Taygetique. Consult remarks on Georg., ii., 488.) 
60. ^Etas Luclnam justosque pa|/I hyme\xiEb3. 

(patl. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
76. Altlus ingredl^ur it | mollia crura reponlt. 

(ingreditur. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
118. JEquus uterque ]ab|or «|que juvenemque magistri. 

(labor. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
155. Acerbls gravido pecor|i arm|entaque pasces. 

(pecorl. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
167. CervicI sub | nicte rfejhlnc ubl libera colla. 

(dehinc. The e shortened before the following vowel.) 
189. Invalids etf|amque tremens eti' Insclus am. 

(Invalidus. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
242. Omn' adeo genus In terrls hominumque fer\drum- 
qu 1 Et genus .... 
(ferarumqu' Et — synapheia and elision.) 
283. M iscue\runtqa' berbas et non Innoxia verba. 

(Miscuerunt. Same as Georg., ii., 129.) 
332. Slcubl magna J5v|Ss dn|tlqu6 robore quercus. 

(Jovls. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
377. Oti' agunt terra congestaque robora | tbtas- 
qu' Advolvere .... 
(totasqu' Advolvere — synapheia and elision.) 



GEORGIC. IV. 
34. Sell lento fuerlnt al| vearia | vimine texta. 

(alvearia. To be prononnced alvaria, by synceresis.) 



METRICAL INDEX. 451 



Line 



38. Nequldqu' In tectls certatlm | tenuia | cera. 

(tenuia. To be pronounced tenvla. Consult remarks on George 
it, 121.) 
92. Nam duo sunt gener' hie mell|dr znjsignfs et ore. 
(Melior. Last syllable lengthened by. the arsis.) 
232. Tayge\te slmul 6b terrls ostendlt honestum. 

(Taygete, Observe the quantity of the a and y, in accordance 
with the Greek form of the name, Tdvyern. The a and y do 
not form a diphthong, neither is the penult ever long.) 
243. Stelli' et | luclfugls congesta cubilla blattls. 

(Stelli' et. To be pronounced stell-yet, a spondee, by synceresis.) 
297. Pan'etf jbusque premunt arctls et quatuSr addunt. 

(Parietibus. To be pronounced as if written par-yet-ibus, that 
is, as a word of four syllables, the i having here the force of a 
consonant, like the English y in yet, &c. Compare remarks 
on Georg., i., 482.) 
343. Atqu' Ephy|re <^|qu' Opis et Asia Delopea. 
(Epbyre. Consult note on Eclog., ii., 24.) 
355. Trlstls Arlstaeus Pe|nel geni\tons ad undam. 

(Penel. A dissyllable, by synaresis.) 
388. Coeruleus Pro\teTis 77m^-|num qui plsclbus aquor. 
(Proteus. A dissyllable, eus being a diphthong.) 
392. Grandsevus lSe\reus no\vlt namqu' omnia vates. 

(Nereus. A dissyllable, eus being a diphthong.) 
422. Intus se vastl Prd\teus tegtt \ objlce saxl. 

(Proteus. Same as line 388.) 
429. Cum Pr6|^ew5 con\sueta pet\ens e fluctlbus antra. 

(Proteus. Same as line 3S8. — Consueta. Three syllables, by 
synaresis, as if written consweta.) 
447. Scls Prd\teu scis | Ipse nequ' est te fallere quldquam. 

(ProteU. A dissyllable, eu being a diphthong. Compare li?ie 388.) 
453. Non te nullI|Ms ex|ercent numlnls Irae. 

(Nullius. Last syllable lengthened by the arsis.) 
461. Implerunt montes, flerunt R,h6dd\pela \ arces. 

(Rhodopeiae. The diphthong loses one of its component sounds 
by elision, and the other, being in the thesis, remains short. 
Consult note on Eclog., ii., 65 ; and remarks on Panopeae, 
Georg., i., 437.) 
463. Atque Get|ae at qu' Hebrus et Actias Orlthyla. 

(Getae. Consult remarks on Eclog., vii., 53.— Orithyia. A 
word of four syllables, yi forming a diphthong, as in Greek. 
A spondaic verse.) 



452 METRICAL INDEX. 



Line 



528. Haec Pro\teu.s It | se jactu dedit aequor in altum. 

(Proteus. Same as line 388.) 
545. Inferias Ox\phei Le|thaja papavera mittes. i 
553. Inferias Or|pheI mittlt, lucumque revisit. > 

(Orphei. A dissyllable, phei being a diphthong.) 






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